HIGH NOTES: Help for the homeless, food for spring break, vaccination success | The Daily Gazette SECTIONS In Schenectady, city police Sgt. Nick Mannix and Lt. Ryan Macherone, seeing a need to help the homeless rather than punish them, worked with community agencies over the winter to provide supplies for those living in a homeless encampment off of Lomasney Avenue until they could find housing. The officers could have taken the more conventional route by simply ordering the dozen or so people living in the camp to disperse. But they took a more humanitarian approach to the problem, enlisting the local agencies to bring meals and other supplies and eventually to help eliminate the need for them to live in the wooded area at all. Among the groups assisting with the effort were Bethesda House of Schenectady, Catholic Charities, New Choices Recovery Center, Schenectady County Health Services, City Mission, Schenectady Community Action Program and Mohawk Opportunities.