Good News York by Growth Mode Content - GNY EP.161 | McMahon Ryan Child Advocacy Center

Episode Date: April 15, 2026

Good News York: McMahon Ryan Child Advocacy Center & the Pinwheel Ball Matt Masur hosts Good News York from Clickstream Studios’ new facility with guests Erin Bates, executive director of the McMahon Ryan Child Advocacy Center, and Catherine Alton, board member and 2024 Pinwheel Ball chair. They explain McMahon Ryan’s role as Onondaga County’s child advocacy center, coordinating a multidisciplinary, trauma-informed team to investigate child abuse reports and support children and families, while also providing short-term therapy and making referrals when needed. They highlight proactive outreach and education delivered by a six-person team reaching over 80 schools and more than 26,000 children. The episode promotes their major fundraiser, the black-tie Pinwheel Ball at the Oncenter with live music, auctions, and a live event painting, plus other ways to support including online auctions, raffles, pinwheel gardens, and upcoming events, with details at mcmahonryan.org and via social media. 00:00 Welcome to Good News York 00:30 Meet the Guests 01:04 What McMahon Ryan Does 01:41 How Cases Reach Them 03:07 Trauma Informed Support 04:30 Prevention Outreach in Schools 05:10 Therapy and Service Area 06:22 Pinwheel Ball Preview 07:36 Auctions and Big Ticket Items 08:57 Tickets Dress Code Details 10:33 More Ways to Support 12:34 Pinwheels and Social Media 13:57 How to Get Help 14:45 Closing Thanks and Sign Off

Welcome to Good News York. I'm Matt Meager from Clickstream Studios recording live here in our new facility. I love this place. We just recorded some of our first stuff here just a couple days ago, and it's really, it's coming out great. And we've got a couple of incredible guests to help us really break in the whole place. So we're very excited about that. And let's jump right in, ladies. Let's go ahead and if you wouldn't mind introduce yourselves and tell us where you're from. Sure. I'm Erin Bates. I'm the executive director from McMahon-Ryan Child Advocacy Center and I'm local to Syracuse. That's awesome. And I'm Catherine Alton. I am on the board of directors in McMahon Ryan and I'm also the chair of the pinwheel ball this year. Oh wow. Yes. Also local and based in Syracuse.

I want to jump right into what that is but we'll get we got a little background first I think because that sounds awesome. And I think it has something to do with maybe even your. I got a little pin there. Yes. I love that. Well first and foremost, so it's just Just get a little background. What is this organization? What do you folks do? Sure. So we're an area nonprofit. We are the Child Advocacy Center for Onondaga County. And what that means is abuse reports are funneled to us, child abuse reports more specifically. And we are a co-located, multidisciplinary team that functions to investigate and serve those kiddos and their families while they're going through that unfortunate process. So we are set up to completely assist those types of investigations and such.

Wow. So is this something where somebody might come to you directly or is this something that, you know, the police might refer to you? Or how does all that work? It's both. So we are a resource for the community or we try to be, which is why we're here today to spread awareness and explain what we do. But we do have individuals that will call and have concerns about something their child might be experiencing and we try to connect them to the correct service. to the correct service, right? Whether that's law enforcement or child protective

or maybe just a regular therapist, depending on what they're sharing. But ultimately what gets funneled to us are typically law enforcement reports or child protective reports with allegations of abuse. And then they come to us to be investigated and we follow those through.

Wow, wow. How big is your team here in Syracuse? Oh, geez. So our multidisciplinary team, which is made up of therapists, medical law enforcement, child protective, advocates, all of us. It's probably about 60 or so. McMan Ryan, the nonprofit portion of that is about 28.

Wow. Wow. How long you've been around? A very long time. So we actually started over 20 years ago, was when we were founded by Martha Ryan and Dr. Anne Botash. And we have been operating ever since. We started out of a little house on West Onondaga.

and now we're over on East Genesee. Wow, that's incredible. What is kind of some of the core things that aside from just the basics of what you do, if there were some of the most important things that you think folks should know about your work and your organization, what would they be? I think that I want individuals to know

that we're a trauma-informed resource in this community, right? Whenever there is an element, allegation of abuse, people tend to panic, and rightfully so. It's a very terrifying experience, I think. But we go above and beyond to make sure that when individuals get referred to us, they feel comforted and educated the second they come through that door. We do our best to make sure that they're comfortable and have all the information that they need because it can be very overwhelming.

So we explain the process and are with them every step of the way to try and mitigate some of that fear of the unknown. And other than that, I think our biggest piece is probably outreach and education. I would be remiss if I didn't mention our team. We have a team of six. Not every child advocacy center is blessed enough to have that. Luckily, we have them in the community doing that preventive work, whereas other communities that just have the child advocacy centers are more reactive.

So we have both pieces, and that's great. So they, that education team, they're out to telling people kind of things to look for and things of that nature. Is that kind of what they do? Yes. So they do both adult and child presentations. They're actually in over 80 schools in Onondaga County. Wow. Last year they saw a little over 26,000 unduplicated children within the county, which is a lot for a six-person team. Probably for a 10-person team even. But they're doing it and they're passionate about it and they do a great job. We have wonderful relationships with the area schools.

So we have been doing that for a number of years, and it continues to grow each year with more requests. Wow, that's incredible. Yeah. You mentioned different things, therapy and things like that. Are those things that you provide in the organization, or do you make referrals to other local organizations? So both.

We have therapists that we employ. We are a shorter-term program, because we know that the kids that are coming to us, us that are disclosing abuse typically have behaviors they're exhibiting. And we want to try to assess and get those under control, give them some coping mechanisms, that kind of thing. But it is a shorter term. So usually six months to a year.

And then if we need to refer to a longer term service, we will, or a higher level of care, we will do that as well. Wow. I know we're here in Syracuse, but what is your, I guess it would say your territory? What areas do you cover? Onondaga County. So Syracuse and beyond anything within the county comes to us. And is there, is it fair to say there's a similar organization like yours in all the communities across New York?

Most every county has one. There are some that are more rural where they might have combined a couple counties. But most, it's every county has their own child advocacy center. Wow. Wow. That's really incredible. The suspense is killing me. So I got to hear a little bit about this event.

that we mentioned at the beginning. If you wouldn't mind, what is that all about? Yeah, absolutely. So this Friday, actually, is one of our largest fundraisers, the pinwheel ball. It will be at the On Center, so we're really excited about this. It's going to be a great night. We have Atlas, the band coming to play live. So really, it's just a time for everybody to come together.

Of course, it's for supporting the services and a big fundraiser part of it as well to make sure that, you know, we can get the funding that is so necessary. really, you know, for the important work that Aaron and her team do at the center every day. So, again, we have live band. We're going to have great food there. We have a live artist, Karen Wheeler, who's going to be actually painting the event. And we're going to have that actually auctioned off. So then whoever wins that is going to be painted in the portrait. So I know she does. That's pretty cool. Yeah, she does a lot with weddings. So we're kind of bringing that to our event, which is kind of different, kind of cool. So that's, that's an interesting piece. And people can, you know,

kind of go and see the progress of the painting during the night, which is really fun too. That's neat. Yeah, so we're excited about that. We have the silent auction, which you do not need to attend to be a part of. You can actually go on our website, and we have some really amazing things on there. We have some really incredible trips to Bahamas, all sorts of places. Warm places. Yes, very warm places.

Places you want to visit. So we have that. We have, what else is on there? We have actually the dock. Somebody donated a dock that, yes. So you could actually go and bid on a dock to be put in if you have a nice waterfront property. Definitely recommend that.

There's some furniture, some very cool baskets, not for girly girls like myself. You know, I'm keeping an eye on the skincare baskets and the hair care baskets because there are some luxury items. But our live auction also has a pair of diamond stud earrings, which are beautiful. are beautiful. And then what else we have?

The custom suit. The custom suit for Mr. Shop, which is always great. Yes, it always gets a lot of bids. And then we have a really cool suite from Syracuse Mets. Yes, yeah, that's always a big one too. So a lot of cool things that you can bid on and participate with too. I love that. That's so neat.

Gives you a great excuse to do a little shopping, but you're supporting the organization. It's going for a good cause, so yeah, absolutely. It's totally cool. I love that. So about the event, just a little bit, what is the attire? Is it a fancy dress-up sort of event? So it is black tie. So, of course, everybody gets dressed up, which is always fun to do because there aren't

that many opportunities to do that. So to break out those beautiful dresses and those shoes that you have stored away in your closet, it's really fun to do that. That's great. And tickets and all those fun things, where do folks find that? So tickets have officially closed. I'm sure if you do contact us, we might find room. for you at a few tables. I'm sure we can do that. But you can just visit

McMahonriyan.org for more information and we can we can certainly set you up with with attending the event because we the more the merrier we say. Yeah, that's that's awesome. Have you been doing this particular fundraiser for a little while? We've been doing it for a number of years. I'm not even sure how many at least. Oh I couldn't even tell you're testing my memory. It's been it's been a while yeah but this year is special because there are some new pieces right we have our of cards raffle, some really cool items in our silent and live auction like we were just talking

about. But we also have Karen coming to do the painting, which I am really excited about. That sounds so neat. It's an up-and-coming trend with gala's, and I'm really excited to be a gala that's going to offer that. I think it's going to be really nice touch. It's really a one-of-a-kind piece you won't find anywhere, so that's really cool. I love that. What a great idea. Whoever came up with that, they nailed it. It was our committee. That's great.

Ladies, what else should folks know about the organization, the event, or even some other ways aside from the event to support you? Yeah, so we also have, which will be at the, so we have a Dino for Kids Raffle. It will actually be drawn at the event, but you don't have to attend to it. So you can purchase tickets right online, again,

McMahonRyan.org. It is $25 for a ticket, or you can can get five for $100, but you get the opportunity to win all these amazing gift cards to local restaurants. So the first place winner wins 12 gift cards, $12, $100 gift cards. Oh, wow. The second place gets six $100 gift cards, and the third place would get three $100 gift cards. And it's to all sorts of restaurants. I think we have, I'm trying to think who's even in there. There's so many that are listed out there. There's a lot. I think there's 21 total.

Yeah, 21, Angry Garlic I know is on there. I think Dinosaur barbecue and there's just so many of local favorites. So it's a great opportunity. Again, all proceeds go back to the center. So you know, you kind of get a chance to be lucky. And you know, if you win first price, that's, you know, a whole year of date nights. If you think about it. Yeah.

Yeah. I don't know. I'd probably burn through them in a month. But that sounds awesome. You could do that too. If that's, you don't have to cook for a month. That's great. That's where it's at.

I love that. That's such a neat thing. You mentioned, if you wouldn't mind one more time, the website where folks find all of this information on everything we're talking about today. Sure. It's McMahonriyan.org. It has all of our agency information, all of our event information, so you can find out what's up and coming. April is a really big month for us. Obviously, we have the pinwheel ball, but we also have our step-up for kids 5K and kids fun run, and that's at the end of the month, and that'll be outside Middle Ages. So any other events that are going on in between pinwheel ball and that event will be listed. And I would just encourage folks to take a look and come out if you're interested. And even Go Blue for Kids, we have the opportunity.

I'm sure if you've been driving around anywhere in Onondaga County, Syracuse area, you may see these amazing little pinwheels planted. So you can actually get a pinwheel garden planted for a donation and you can come out. And the pinwheel, of course, being the representative of what, a childhood should be, just carefree. So that's why we use pinwheel as the symbol there. But yeah, so it's fun. So as you're seeing, driving by, you might see all these pinwheels in front of businesses. I have them in front of my house. But it's just really, really cool to see. And you can, you can purchase your pinwheels online on the website at McMahonRind.org as well.

Yes, those two. Yes. So many pinwheels. But yeah, and we also have the pins like Catherine is wearing and the little bracelets. There's a number of things. But again, all of that's on the website. if people are interested in that. I love it. That's such a wonderful symbol. What a great thing. How about you got social media? You guys do that at all?

Anything like that? Folks could check out? Yep. So we have Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. We just got a TikTok. Don't ask me anything about that. I can't use it. It shows my age a little bit, I think.

But it's fine. But we have a development team that is new to that platform and trying to get that up and running. So we're just about everywhere. And LinkedIn, too. So for those on the professional site as well on LinkedIn. And ladies, the last thing I'll ask you is for folks that might need your help.

How do they reach out? How do they connect with you? Sure. So everybody is able to call our office. We have advocates that are on call 24-7. So if there is a concern, they are more than capable to call Monday through Friday, 830 to 430 and get somebody on the phone to kind of talk things over. and we can point them in the right direction.

If somebody's in immediate danger, my response is always 911 and have law enforcement or EMS, whomever dispatch to handle that and start the report process, but also child protective services. If you have concerns about a child being abused or neglected, then you should be calling that into the state central registry. Gotcha, well.

Ladies, this has been some phenomenal information and it's, this is one of those things, things where it's sad that there is a need for such an organization, but great that there are so many dedicated people working on it and fighting for the good guys, I guess you would say, and for children, obviously. So that's an awesome thing. So with that, I will let you get back to that incredible mission and get ready for this event that's this week. That's got to be really coming down to the wire, so I know how that can be. I hope you have a phenomenal event. And like I said, come back any time and talk about all the different things that you've got going on. We'd love to help you

spread the message and do anything we can for you. Absolutely. We appreciate this opportunity so much. It's been great. Thank you. Awesome. Thank you for having us. Thank you so much. And with that, that's today's episode of Good News York, sponsored by Ads on the Go. Get Ads on the Go.com is the spot to check that out. And stay with us. We got a lot of incredible interviews lined up all this week and lots of more fun. So with that, peace out.