VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: Lights on the Lake Opens with Charity Night.
Kiran Costa: It’s a competitive process to get chosen to be the Lights on the Lake charity. Despite the hundreds of pitches, this year’s choice was clear: 22 Until There’s None.
Steve Cox: We’re a peer support and mental health awareness organization where we raise mental health awareness through trying to reduce the stigma and get our veterans, first responders and military into clinical care, should they need it. If not, we help them gain the resources that they need.
Costa: For Cox, this year’s Lights on the Lake is very impactful. All the proceeds are going to the organization’s Strength and Service Grant.
Cox: It means a lot. A lot of our volunteer services don’t have medical or health care for mental health. So mass casualty comes out, they bust out the work for them, and then once they feel that everybody’s been treated or it’s back to normal, if you will, they send them home.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – Lights on the Lake, one of Central New York’s favorite traditions, returns tonight, Nov. 17. The opening night of the drive-thru show is one of its three charity nights. The two charities for Monday are Syracuse Grows and 22 Until There’s None.
It is a competitive process to have your charity selected for Lights on the Lake. Hundreds of charities submit online applications to be chosen for the season. For the 2025–26 season, there will be six charities across three days.
The first day features 22 Until There’s None, a nonprofit organization committed to ending suicide among veterans, military members and first responders. Scott Cox is the founder and director of the organization.
“We’re a peer support and mental health awareness organization where we raise mental health awareness through trying to reduce the stigma and get our veterans, first responders and military into clinical care, should they need it,” Cox said. “If not, we help them gain the resources that they need.”
This year, Cox knows exactly where the money is going: the organization’s Strength and Service Grant to help veterans.
“It means a lot. A lot of our volunteer services don’t have medical or health care for mental health,” Cox said. “So mass casualty comes out, they bust out the work for them and then once they feel that everybody’s been treated or it’s back to normal, if you will, they send them home.”
Lights on the Lake is open from 5 to 10 p.m. through Jan. 17. The next two charity nights are Nov. 18 and Jan. 12. On charity drive-thru nights, admission is $5 per carload, with all proceeds going to the charities. In the 2024–25 season, Lights on the Lake raised more than $10,000 for local nonprofits.