PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The adversities of 2022 brought out some extraordinary stories in the region. A war in Ukraine. Gun violence. Racial disparity in health care. Animal cruelty. The threatened erasure of Black history. The heights of athletic competition. And through it all, what shone through is the resilience of Philadelphians, whether they go around on two legs or four.
Ukraine stories — 'We are like a family'
Many people will never forget Feb. 24, 2022 — the day Russian troops invaded Ukraine. More than 6,700 civilians there have died. The pain and destruction of war inspired countless individuals and businesses from the Philadelphia region to do what they could to support Ukraine’s defense and the welfare of 8 million displaced Ukrainian citizens.
Over the course of about a week, Gary Wasserson of Penn Valley, Montgomery County, found out he had relatives in Ukraine, made contact with them, and flew to Europe to get as many of them as possible to safety. It worked, with some assistance, and he flew hundreds of miles to hug them on Polish soil.
A Ukrainian man named Oleg, living in Philadelphia, raised thousands of dollars in cash and supplies before flying to Europe, buying a car and driving to home soil, where he sought out family and lent a hand to relief efforts.
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Yulia Penchak of Langhorn helped her husband, father and a family friend pack up medicine, toiletries, clothing and helmets. They delivered 32 bags, about 50 pounds each, to the other side of the world — where they drove women and children to relative safety at the Ukrainian border.
And some families gave even more. Luke Lucyszyn, born and raised in Cherry Hill, died in Ukraine as a volunteer fighting Russian aggressors.
🎧 Listen to his story
Food, drink, sport and music lent their usual magic, as well, inspiring unity in these most difficult of times.
A few Philly restaurateurs lent their skills to the cause. Mike Strauss, chef and owner of Mike’s BBQ in South Philly, signed up with the organization World Central Kitchen just a few days before hopping on a plane to lend them a hand. Over the course of a week, he helped them scale up from serving 3,000 meals a day to 100,000.
Strauss led other Philly food pros to volunteer their services at the Polish border — among them, Olga Sorzano, of Baba’s Brew in Phoenixville, and Joncarl Lachman, of Center City brunch spot Winkel. On their first day, they spent eight hours chopping potatoes and apples.
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And there were countless fundraising efforts among area businesses and nonprofits. Russia’s invasion forced Pravda Brewery, in Lviv, Ukraine, to suspend production while beermakers were called to shift their focus to Molotov cocktails. As Ukraine braced for a fight, Pravda gave recipes for five of their award-winning beers to brewers around the world, including a few in the Philadelphia area, so they could make and sell it in solidarity.
Neumann University professor Janis Chakars curated an album of punk music, called “Band Together,” featuring songs from Ukrainian artists fleeing or fighting for their homeland. Proceeds from album sales were directed to relief funds.
A Mount Laurel women's ice hockey club, the New Jersey Jaguars, raised money to support the women of the Kharkiv Panthers hockey team in Ukraine, whom they had met just four years prior.
And soccer’s global appeal helped unify Ukrainian and Russians at last summer’s annual Philadelphia International Unity Cup. The tournament featured teams representing 92 different countries, including Ukraine, in spite of the ongoing conflict.
Andrey Ykchev, who played professional soccer back home in Russia 20 years ago, played this time for the Ukrainian team in a show of solidarity in opposition to the war.
“They support me. I support them. We are like a family,” Ykchev said, “Everyone is for everyone. That’s why I play.”
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Tyce Combs — Keeping gun violence in check
The effects of violent crime continue to ripple across the city. More than 2,200 people have been shot in Philadelphia this year. More than 500 people have been killed.
The problem may be less acute in tight-knit communities outside of the city, but the human toll of gun violence is no less real. That’s what motivates the community activism of Tyce Combs, owner of Generations Barber School in Upper Darby.
If you want to know what’s going on in a neighborhood, spend some time in the local barber shop. Combs has used the space to create several youth programs — most of them self-funded — over the years. Open since 2006, Generations has become a community hub for Upper Darby’s youth and the center of violence prevention and conflict resolution initiatives aimed squarely at curbing gun violence.
Combs tells the young men that a barber’s career is a respectable one, and he serves as an example.
“I’ve been doing as much as I can to be an example and be a positive light for younger Black males that are coming up in this area,” Combs said.
Not only can young people earn their license from the barber school (the only one in Delaware County), they can find summer employment, community and connection — encouragement to put down the guns and pick up a conversation.
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A cat gives 'Every Buddy' a little hope
The survival story of a cat named Buddy captured the hearts of thousands of people around the world.
Buddy was hanging out on a porch in Frankford one day in March when two teens set loose a couple of dogs to attack him, leaving him in extremely critical condition, with several severe puncture wounds.
The Pennsylvania SPCA took on the fight to save Buddy’s life. A team of veterinarians patched Buddy back up. Word spread on social media. And the unassuming cat became a cause célèbre for animal cruelty.
From all around the world, hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations poured into a fund established to pay for medical bills.
Within days, the PSPCA’s Humane Law Enforcement program helped find the 12- and 17-year-old suspects behind the attack. They were arrested and prosecuted for animal fighting, aggravated animal cruelty and related offenses, with a trial in May, but little more is publicly known because they are minors.
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The two dogs involved were evaluated and adopted into new homes.
Buddy made a full recovery, and one of the emergency vets who saved his life, Dr. Katie Venanzi, fostered and then adopted him.
“I just absolutely fell in love with him,” Venanzi said. “He is a really, really special cat.”
The Twin Sister Docs — Equity in health care
Racial disparities across Philadelphia’s neighborhoods block access to health care for countless thousands. For more than 20 years, Strawberry Mansion natives Dr. Delana Wardlaw and Dr. Elana McDonald have advocated for equity in health care and a more inclusive educational pipeline.
“We’re kind of like the girls next door,” said Wardlaw, “but we are also well-qualified, educated physicians who are the girls next door — that people can come and have a conversation with and ask questions.”
That’s really the purpose of their advocacy, they say.
“The main goal of Twin Sister Docs is really to provide accurate information in a manner that the average individual can understand so it can spark a conversation with their physician,” McDonald said.
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Wardlaw is a family physician at Temple Health in Nicetown. McDonald has outpatient pediatric practices in Port Richmond, Kensington and the Northeast.
The sisters gained prominence during the pandemic by disseminating health care information — especially about COVID-19 and, later, the vaccine — on social media. Over the following years, they gained thousands more followers from all over the world who trust them for reliable information.
However, they say it was ultimately the needs of underserved Black and Latino communities that drove their purpose. Outside of their day jobs, the pair operate vaccine clinics and mentor students.
“We realize that, in the African American community and other communities, people are more comfortable with someone who looks like them and someone they think that they can relate to,” McDonald said.
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As Black women, Wardlaw and McDonald look like only 2% of American doctors. They can help increase that number by making sure students at all levels know that a career in medicine is attainable.
“Unfortunately, we live in a world where inequality still exists,” said Wardlaw. “And unfortunately, African Americans carry a heavy burden of many diseases. And a lot of it has to do with lack of access to quality care or lack of access to proper food or nutrition, so we have to make sure that we are addressing these things.”
Andrew Heo — Bucks County Olympian
Andrew Heo of Warrington, Bucks County, became a dominating force on the American men’s short-track speedskating team of the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing. The 21-year-old said one aspect of the Olympics that made him most proud was the story he represented.
“Internationally, just being able to represent my Asian background as part of Team USA is definitely an honor — definitely a blessing to … have that opportunity to represent Asian Americans at that level,” he said.
Andrew’s family made sacrifices to see him and his brother Aaron reach their Olympic speedskating dreams. His father and uncle ran two auto body shops in North Philadelphia. His mother drove both boys to Maryland for practices. They moved to Salt Lake City for a time to train at an Olympic facility.
“This was a family effort,” Heo said. “That is basically what I’m feeling right now and have been feeling ever since I made the team. … We have to go through so much as a family, and my parents going through all those sacrifices to let me live out the dream and our dream.”
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Andrew is now paying that forward by making an impact on up-and-coming athletes.
“These kids would be like, ‘Oh my gosh, are you real?’ It makes me realize how much of an impact I can make on some kids,” he said. “I always say ‘be yourself.’ Don’t compare yourself to others, because especially in skating, you’re your own skater.”
Linda Shockley — preserving NJ Black history
Many people are unfamiliar with the community of Lawnside, New Jersey, rich with the relics of nearly 100 years of history and truth — right across the bridge from Philadelphia in Camden County.
Linda Shockley has dedicated more than 30 years of her life to protecting and preserving that history.
“This community was organized in the early 19th century. We have people here who trace their families to folks who escaped along the Underground Railroad from slavery,” Shockley said. In 1926, Lawnside became the first incorporated African American municipality north of the Mason-Dixon Line — “a milestone in itself,” says Shockley.
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The main goal of the nonprofit Lawnside Historical Society, which Shockley leads, is the maintenance of the 176-year-old Peter Mott House in Lawnside.
The house, which was a stop along the Underground Railroad, is "one of the few towering monuments of the era" that celebrates freedom, rather than enslavement and bondage, she said.
“It stands tall, by comparison to some of the monuments that memorialized enslavers, and people who oppose freedom. And so it's really important that we keep it alive and that we think about different ways that we can use it,” Shockley said.
“These things are all around us, but if we don't tell these stories, then there's a possibility that this history could be erased for generations to come.”
Nairobi Colon — nonbinary and TikTok-famous
Nairobi Colon has been teaching middle school art at KIPP Whittier Middle School in Camden for nearly five years, but it was only recently that they were able to bring their full, authentic self to the classroom.
“One day I really woke up and I was kind of tired of being called ‘miss,’ and knowing that that didn't sit right with me.”
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Colon says the school has been very supportive. And when they came out as nonbinary to their students during the pandemic, it was a nonissue.
“‘I want you all to call me Teacher Robi instead of Ms. Robi. Are you OK with that?’” they remember saying at the time.
“And they were like, ‘Yeah. What are we learning today?’”
Colon said having that support is essential. Being able to share their experiences freely as a nonbinary teacher and as a person of color — with students and LGBTQ and other communities online — is a great way to foster representation.
Colon is what the kids call “TikTok famous,” boasting a following of nearly 500,000.
Sheena Howard — Black history in comics
Dr. Sheena Howard is another Philadelphia trailblazer of representation. Her work documents Black history through the format of comics and graphic novels.
The Southwest Philadelphia native is the first Black woman to win an Eisner Award. The award, named for American cartoonist and early comic book artist William Eisner, recognizes achievement in comic book formats. It is to comic books as the Oscar is to movies.
Howard’s latest project, a book, called "BLAM! Black Lives Always Mattered: Hidden African American Philadelphia of the Twentieth Century,” comprises 14 graphically rendered stories of historical Black leaders, most of whom lived in Philadelphia.
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"I tried to write the stories in a way that will be inspiring to the youth," Howard said. "Every story that I wrote, I want a youth to read this and feel like they can do whatever they want to do in life. We start from the beginning of each of these people's lives."
“Black Lives Always Mattered” is the first graphic novel about Black historical figures from Philadelphia. Howard donated to the school district 5,000 copies of the text, which will be used to teach thousands of Philadelphia students for years to come.
"They started from very little and made such a major impact right here in the City of Philadelphia and made impact beyond … and I really just want people to be inspired by these real-life people. These are real-life superheroes."