Who is this year's Oneida County Outstanding Senior Citizen?
Nancy Nicholl, a retired Oneida County Sheriff Office deputy, has extended her ethic of service beyond retirement.
She currently volunteers in the social adult day program of Copper City Community Connection in Rome, where her own father receives help.
‘I learned the importance of giving back to the community through my parents,” Nicholl, of Westmoreland, said in a statement. “I am now able to pay that learning back to my father and his friends at Copper City.”
Her impact there is great enough for the community connection to nominate her for an award and for the Oneida County Office for the Aging & Continuing Care to choose her for the 2024 Outstanding Older Citizen Award.
Nicholl received the award, which marks National Older Americans Month, on Thursday in the Oneida County Board of Legislators chamber in the county office building in Utica. The theme for this year’s older Americans month is Powered by Connections.
“Ms. Nicholl recognizes the importance of social connections among Oneida County residents,” said Michael Romano, deputy commissioner of the Oneida County Department of Family & Community Services in a statement. “She exemplifies how essential it is for our Onieda County community to care about and for each other, as well as recognize the contributions of older adults.”
During her three decades as a deputy, Nicholl also helped to launch a volunteer Elder Abuse Prevention Program, also known as TRIAD. She and the county office for aging worked together to educate the community and to prevent elder abuse and neglect.
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Nicholl retired as a deputy in November 2017, but then went back to work as a special patrol officer, working in area schools, in September 2018 before retiring for good in July 2022.
But for Nicholls, retirement meant no paycheck, not less service.
She took up her work at Copper City Community Connection where she organizes “numerous” activities for special occasions and holidays, and often buys the needed supplies herself, according to the program.
“Nancy’s goal is to bring people together and make them happy,” Oneida County Executive Anthony J. Picente Jr said in a statement. “She originally became associated with Copper City Community Connection through her father in order to provide him an opportunity to participate in activities and make new friends.
“Now there is never a dull moment when she is there, bringing smiles to all.”
This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Adult day program volunteer named Oneida County outstanding senior
