“Christmas is hope,” says Jane Anzaldi of Mars, as a year riddled with tribulations nears its end.

A pandemic. The dawn of widespread working from home. A record-breaking and controversial presidential election. Economic and civil upheaval. Serial weather phenomena. The stresses piled up.

But at least one thing to be grateful for — that endures — is hope.

“Faith is everything,” said Mary Sue Rozum, Anzaldi's friend from Wexford. “I really feel that there's just love all around.”

The Rev. John Pistorius, pastor of Christ's Family Church in Chicora, is a coordinator for the Petroleum Valley Food Cupboard.

Working closely with the public in a time as unique as 2020 has allowed him to see things from a new perspective.

“There's a lot of context for hope,” Pistorius said. “I have hope because I see people giving.”

That giving isn't just done in the Christmas spirit, according to Pistorius. It's been palpable year-round, particularly through food cupboard volunteers.

“They spend their time (here) because they want to help others,” he said. “Especially during this time of trouble.”

In addition to individuals, businesses have faced the brunt of the challenges imposed by the pandemic.

But Jordan Grady, executive director of the Butler County Chamber of Commerce, said businesses are exactly why communities should have hope for the future.

“There's hope in 2021 that consumer confidence is going to increase,” Grady said. “We continue to eradicate this virus that's wreaked economic havoc on Butler County.”

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Natalie Wall, assistant director and volunteer coordinator for Butler Meals on Wheels, has already seen a growing confidence in the community.

She said Meals on Wheels operations adapted and hardly missed a beat. And she credited that to volunteers.

“People wanting to help each other, people wanting to reach out,” Wall said. “People wanting something to do that is good for their community.”

As principal of Butler Catholic School, Sister John Ann Mulhern said hope can be a funny term.

“It's such a fascinating word,” she said. “So many different meanings.”

Mulhern said that though the world this year seemed particularly bleak — even depressing — America was built on a foundation of respect for life.

“That's what hope is,” she said, “believing that it can happen, and that it will happen if people work together.”

Children have been an example of resiliency this year, according to Mulhern. She said watching them continue to laugh and engage tells her there's hope to be found.

Children, she said, adapt quickly. Mulhern said some of them don't realize what they're being deprived of in the first place.

Butler Township resident Daryl Shockey has two children. Piper, who is 6, and Parker, who is 3, attend Butler Montessori School.

Shockey said as parents, he and his wife, Brett, have tried to protect their children from the trials of 2020.

“I hope we've done a good job of kind of insulating them,” Shockey said. “For me, hope looks like getting to a point where (we're) not questioning what tomorrow holds.”

Anzaldi said her Christianity has helped her navigate the uncertainties of this year. The Bible makes no bones about what to expect in life, she said.

“(God) promised us in this world that we'd have trouble,” Anzaldi said. “He overcame this world.”

Capt. Darlene Means of the Salvation Army Butler Corps believes it's important to find the good in the bad.

One of the silver linings she's found during the pandemic is how families have drawn together, even while being forced to stay apart.

“Looking to God for hope, looking to Him to guide me, that's where my hope comes from,” Means said.

Ted Fessides, chief of Cranberry Township EMS, said he was moved by this week's great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. The phenomenon is being dubbed the “Christmas Star.”

“That Christmas Star gave me a lot of hope, personally,” he said. “Of all the years for that to happen, it happens in 2020.”

Fessides said he's also inspired by widespread neighborly attitudes in a year of such polarization.

“I've seen all the hurdles and flags that have gone up,” he said. “(I'm) seeing how our staff is taking these challenges on.”

Anzaldi is counting on 2021 being more hospitable than 2020.

“My hope is that the virus will go away,” she said. “And that we'll be unified as a nation.”

“Hope is generated by our interactions with one another,” Pistorius said.

Grady said for the chamber of commerce, that means advocating and staying in touch with members.

The chamber engages local business owners by providing updates on things like stimulus packages, loan options and payment deferrals.

Grady said member businesses continue to be promoted through chamber channels.

“I also continue to be a voice on the end of a phone,” he said, “if someone picks it up and calls me and needs to hear something positive.”

Grady said, in 2021, he wants to see a “great economic comeback.”

Wall said she's hoping for a positive response to the COVID-19 vaccine, especially for people who have lived in fear this year.

“That it just gives them some of their life back,” she said. “That they're able to get out and do things again.”

Wall has found good things in 2020, like how faithfully friends and families have used unorthodox means to stay in touch with one another.

She hopes returning to “normal” includes that level of connection.

“Humankind has not given up on each other,” Pistorius said. “Even when things are troubling.”

As someone working in the emergency field, Fessides hopes 2021 is safer for first responders. Not having to watch them don personal protective equipment (PPE) and hazmat suits to help others will be a step in the right direction.

Many county residents look forward to a day without masks and one-way store aisles.

Some of them believe that day may be closer than we expect.

“I think there's great hope for the future,” Mulhern said. “Because I think people, deep down, want to live together in peace, harmony and gratitude (for) what our Provident God has done for us.”

Eagle staff photographer Sebastian Foltz and writer Alex J. Weidenhof contributed to this report.