Buffalo State’s Evergreen program is teaming up with the nonprofit Herding for the Hurting in
collecting donated shoes to raise money for Boston.
Each pair of shoes donated will raise 50 cents for One Fund Boston Inc., while the shoes
themselves are sent to developing countries.
One Fund Boston Inc. is a fundraiser established by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick
and Boston Mayor Tom Menino. Bostaph said the money will help pay for people’s medical
expenses as well as the rebuilding of the city at the site of the explosions.
“It’s a win-win,” Lauren Bostaph, staff assistant for Business Services, said. “You find a place for
the shoes that good, and you also get money donated to the One Fund Boston.”
Bostaph said that Herding for the Hurting began with students.
“I got an email from a staff member on campus who had noticed on Facebook this group called
Herding for the Hurting,” Bostaph said. “She said they were doing this effort at UB to collect
shoes and that maybe we should get involved.”
Bostaph said she reached out to Kaitlyn Brown one of the students responsible for starting
Herding for the Hurting.
Brown, a freshman at Buffalo State majoring in photography and communication design,
said that she and her best friend Jessica Tomasello, a student at UB, who are runners, were
disheartened by the tragedy that took place in Boston April 15, and wanted to help out in some
way.
“We really wanted to bring Buffalo as a community together to help one of our neighboring
cities, a place that’s fairly close to us,” Brown said. “They need help and we’re the city of good
neighbors, so why not show them.”
She said that after watching hours of media coverage, it hit them that the tragedy could’ve
happened much closer to home.
“Jessica was at home one night watching some of the media coverage and she saw a picture of
a little girl who lost a limb and it hit her really, really hard,” Brown said. “She texted me that night
and said ‘Kate, we have to do something,’ and I said ‘Alright, I’m on board.'”
Brown said that they got in contact with representatives from the Shoe Recycle Fundraiser
Organization to collaborate with their organization in the fundraiser.
“We collect the shoes and then send them to this organization,” she said. “Then they send the
shoes over to different parts of Africa and other impoverished nations. They also get paid for
the shoes, so they donate about 50 cents a pair to a charity of our choice, which is One Fund
Boston.”
Brown said that their collections at other schools in Kenmore and Tonawanda as well as UB
have been very successful so far. She said she received reports that some bins at UB were full
and needed to be emptied.
“It was one of those things where everybody wanted to help, but didn’t know how and now we’re
giving a lot of these students an easy way to help,” Brown said. “They don’t have to give a lot
of time to it, they don’t have to buy anything, so I think a lot of students are going to try to get
involved more and more as the semester comes to an end.”
Bostaph said students and faculty have until May 17 to drop off shoes to the bins provided in
the lobbies of the Campbell Student Union and E.H. Butler Library as well as outside the fitness
center in Buckham Hall.
Shoes that cannot be accepted in the donation include flip-flops, high heels, boots or metal-
spiked cleats.
Herding for the Hurting will also be having their Finish Line Event on May 19 at Primerano
Fitness, 1647 Military Road in Niagara Falls as a final drop-off and donation celebration.
Katie Anderson can be reached by email at anderson.record@live.com.