Year Two of the pandemic started out hopefully. By summertime, it seemed like Covid-19 was finally waning.
Then came the Delta variant.
The year 2021 also saw bitter political divisions grow even deeper, supply chains break down, weather disasters and a steady rise of gun violence in the nation's cities.
Yet, there were bright spots – moments that made us smile and reminded us that there's a reason Buffalo is called the City of Good Neighbors.
Here are 10 stories that warmed our hearts in a year when we really needed it.
'A gift I can give'
The emergency approval of three different vaccines for Covid-19 at the end of 2020 brought hope but the rollout in the beginning of the year led to new frustration.
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Getting an appointment seemed almost impossible. The supply was limited and only certain categories of people were eligible. Then there was the process of making an appointment. The state's website was difficult to navigate, especially for seniors. With a crush of people trying to schedule a shot, the system crashed or a message would pop up: No appointments available.
Kathleen Riley stayed up for hours one night trying to get appointments for her elderly parents, working a desktop computer, a tablet and her cellphone. When she finally succeeded getting them appointments at ECC South, it occurred to her that the middle of the night might be the best time to make appointments. She wondered if she could help other people and started texting everyone she could think of. She helped 18 people get their shots.
"When I make an appointment for somebody else, I understand it as a gift. It's a gift I can give," she said.
Riley was one of an army of online volunteers who cropped up in Buffalo and elsewhere offering to help connect people with appointments.
Since signing up her family members for vaccine appointments, Kathleen Riley has been trying to help as many people as she can sign up for appointments of their own.
$100 million gift for arts and culture
When Buffalo Bills founder Ralph C. Wilson died in 2014, he left behind a commitment in his will to improve life in Western New York.
To the stunned delight of more than a dozen arts and cultural institutions, the foundation that bears his name announced in early December a $100 million donation to provide funding in perpetuity to support many of the region's most well-known attractions.
"I have never seen a grant in the cultural sector that is so far-ranging and communitywide. You are almost speechless," said Daniel Hart, executive director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, one of two Buffalo organizations that will receive $500,000 annually.
The 11 Buffalo institutions receiving funding and the amounts are the Albright-Knox Art Gallery; Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra; Buffalo Museum of Science; Buffalo Zoo; Explore & More Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Children’s Museum; Buffalo History Museum; Shea’s Performing Arts Center; Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park; Burchfield Penney Art Center; Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor; and Darwin Martin House.
The Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation today will announce a $100 million donation that will provide funding in perpetuity to support many of the region's most well-known attractions.
Circle of life
The Buffalo Zoo had a lot to celebrate this year.
Two healthy lion cubs were born March 7. “We are thrilled to welcome these cubs to the Buffalo Zoo family,” said Lisa Smith, general curator at the zoo. “It’s never a guarantee that newborn animals will survive, but Lusaka is an experienced mom, and she has been doing everything right. Both cubs look healthy and are growing fast.”
The cubs' father, Tiberius, also celebrates his birthday March 7, according to the zoo.
The cubs, a male and female, were named Kahri and Zahra.
The baby lions won't be on public display just yet.
Then came more blessed event news as a baby rhino, the fifth offspring of 24-year-old Tashi, was born on Oct. 16. The baby female was named Georgia.
The rhino, the fifth offspring of 24-year-old Tashi, weighed 130 pounds at birth on Oct. 16. She made her public debut Thursday at the Buffalo Zoo.
Afghan family trapped in Kabul escapes, comes back to Buffalo safely
On the day Abdul Basir moved into his new home in Amherst and was getting it ready for when his wife and three of his children returned from an extended trip to Afghanistan, he received alarming news: Kabul had fallen to the Taliban.
Distraught, he reached out to a friend, Annie McCune of Orchard Park – who had worked on many humanitarian efforts – to help him find a way to get his family home.
For two agonizing months, as McCune worked every angle she could find, Basir worried and waited.
Finally in October, after countless emails and phone calls, frantic messages in the middle of the night and hours of prayer, Basir's wife and children came walking down the concourse at Buffalo Niagara International Airport and into his arms. "You're here!" cheered McCune, hugging the children.
Two months after the fall of Kabul, Abdul Basir was finally reunited with his wife and three youngest children, who had been trapped in Afghanistan.
Carousel opens on waterfront
A lavishly restored vintage carousel opened at Canalside in time for Memorial Day.
The Buffalo Heritage Carousel, originally built in 1924, has 34 menagerie animals and three chariots. Carnival music from a Wurlitzer 153 band organ emanates from the carousel's inner loop in the new solar-powered roundhouse.
It marked the first time the amusement machine has operated since 1954.
"It's very fun to go on there, and I liked the special music. It was loud," said Sam Barry, 9, of East Aurora, who rode one of the horses on the inaugural ride.
The carousel recorded 74,000 rides through Labor Day, when it closed for refurbishing.
A new era began Friday for a vintage 1924 carousel whose remarkable journey included sitting in storage for 63 years before arriving at Canalside.
Toronto Blue Jays become Buffalo’s home team for a while
It was built in 1988 with a dream that one day thousands of fans would pack in to cheer for a Major League Baseball team.
In 2021, the dream briefly came true.
For a second consecutive season, Covid-19 restrictions at the border meant the Toronto Blue Jays called Sahlen Field home.
In the first year, Blue Jays played in an empty stadium but this year, Buffalo baseball fans enjoyed the historic pleasure of watching big leaguers in their own town.
The Blue Jays got the OK in mid-July to return to play in Canada, and that meant the return of the Buffalo Bisons to their home field.
The Blue Jays saluted the Bisons for being their hosts for much of the last two seasons and thanked "Buffalo-area fans for their support in making Sahlen Field feel like a true home crowd," the team said.
The only thing better, one fan said, would be if Major League Baseball in Buffalo could somehow, someday become permanent.
Boy, 4, donates his piggy bank to save USS The Sullivans
Arrow Swartwout, 4, wanted to make sure the USS The Sullivans did not sink.
The boy loves going to see the ships and the airplanes on display outside at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park with his grandmother, Tara Welty, who lives in the Marine Drive Apartments.
Arrow was particularly interested – and worried – when he heard The Sullivans was taking on water and was in danger of sinking if emergency repairs were not made.
Arrow wanted to do his part. "He wanted to donate some money, too," Welty said.
But his piggy bank was at home, and he was a little reluctant to dip into it. So Arrow and Welty went through the spare change that Welty keeps in a dish at her apartment. They scooped up some coins and put them in a plastic bag and brought it to the naval park.
Developer Douglas Jemal was so taken with Arrow's desire to donate piggy bank money to help save the ship that he presented the little boy with a pair of $100 bills, and a red, white and blue hat.
"You touched my heart, you're a special kid," Jemal told him.
"You touched my heart, you're a special kid," developer Douglas Jemal told Arrow Swartwout, who wanted to make sure the WWII destroyer did not sink.
'We got you': Cheektowaga cops help rescue fire victims
Early on Sept. 3, Cheektowaga police officers helped pluck four people and a dog from the second floor of a burning house.
Two officers stood on the roof of a police cruiser with red and blue emergency lights flashing at their feet to grab the victims while two other officers helped them down to the ground.
"We got you! We got you!" the officers could be heard shouting on their body camera footage as they coaxed each person over the railing of the balcony.
Officers William Cookfair, Brendan Tomasulo, Joshua Donovan and Jeffrey Scaglion were recognized for their quick, brave work.
Officers William Cookfair, Brendan Tomasulo, Joshua Donovan and Jeffrey Scaglion were responding to a call about a house fire on Preston Road at about 12:20 a.m. Friday.
'Nightmare Alley' opens, showcasing Buffalo’s architecture
Buffalo City Hall plays a starring role in the remake of the 1947 noir film "Nightmare Alley," which opened Dec. 17.
In February 2020, just before the pandemic struck, Guillermo del Toro brought an A-list cast to shoot in Buffalo – Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett and Willem Dafoe. Del Toro spent four days shooting in Buffalo's beautiful art deco City Hall, the Karpeles Manuscript Museum and other locations, transforming the area back in time to the 1940s.
“I wanted to find a city that was really interesting to visit for an audience and that was a city that they weren’t overtly familiar with,” del Toro said at a press conference.
A kid who needed a break gets so much more
For Thanksgiving 2020, Buffalo News' columnist Sean Kirst wrote about a young man who lives at a house on the campus of St. Luke’s Mission of Mercy. He was struggling amid the pandemic shutdown. His car engine blew up, then he lost his job at a hardware store. He was trying to find a new job but was finding himself traveling to interviews by bus and could barely afford the bus fare.
Two months later, Marcos Vazquez landed a new job with a detailing company at the West Herr Auto Group in Hamburg. Once there, aware of the situation, dealership president Scott Bieler covered a down payment for Vazquez on a used Nissan Altima.
Kirst was in the newsroom and checking his mail when he opened an envelope. Inside was $4,000 in crisp $100 bills and an unsigned note.
"I want to ask you to take care of something for me,” wrote the unnamed correspondent. The anonymous note mentioned there was money enclosed to “help him get another car and hopefully be able to find a job."
Vazquez gasped with joy when he received the envelope. He used the money to pay off a large chunk of his car payments.
“No one had to do that specifically for me,” Vazquez said, “and it makes me want to do the same thing for someone else in the same position.”
“No one had to do that specifically for me,” Marcos Vazquez said, “and it makes me want to do the same thing for someone else in the same position.”
