Even before the May 14 hate crime that killed 10 Black neighbors at their local Tops Markets store, Sheila Hamilton and her daughter, Jetaun Jones, were on a mission to revive the community center founded by their mother and grandmother, Dorothy J. Collier.
'We are going to push forward': Plan to expand community center revived after Tops shooting
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Jayden Cooper, 11, cleans toy bricks during a cleanup of the Dorothy J. Collier Community Center on Saturday, June 25, 2022. (Minh Connors / Buffalo News)
Co-organizers Joe'l Staples, left, and Lauren Celenza have a laugh as Lauren's husband Paul Celenza hugs Lindsay Jakubowski during a cleanup of the Dorothy J. Collier Community Center on Saturday, June 25, 2022. (Minh Connors / Buffalo News)
Joe DeMarco preps to paint a windowsill as part of a cleanup at the Dorothy J. Collier Community Center on Saturday, June 25, 2022. (Minh Connors / Buffalo News)
Sheila Hamilton, left, president of the board of Friends, Inc. at Dorothy J. Collier Community Center, with her daughter Jetaun Jones, executive and operations director of Friends, Inc. at Dorothy J. Collier Community Center on Saturday, June 25, 2022. (Minh Connors / Buffalo News)
Lauren Celenza makes a phone call during the Dorothy J. Collier Community Center cleanup on Saturday, June 25, 2022. Celenza, along with Kim Kamper DeMarco and Joe'l Staples, organized the cleanup (Minh Connors / Buffalo News)
Lindsay Jakubowski, left, helps organize a room as Aaron Ostrod, 13, center, and Cynthia Doyle organize files during a cleanup of the Dorothy J. Collier Community Center on Saturday, June 25, 2022. (Minh Connors / Buffalo News)
Jayden Cooper, 11, and Erin DeMarco, wipe down mirrors of the bathroom during a cleanup of the Dorothy J. Collier Community Center on Saturday, June 25, 2022. (Minh Connors / Buffalo News)
The Tops Markets on Jefferson Avenue will reopen Friday, two months and one day after a racist mass shooting there killed 10 people, injured t…
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Leaders of World Central Kitchen, which came to Buffalo after the Tops mass shooting, are trying to gauge what the community needs from their …
Carlton Steverson hid in a cooler in the store and herded a few other people in with him, all of whom survived. In the week since, he has lear…
Hearts break, but spirits rebound. Over time, communities shattered by the trauma of a mass shooting don’t necessarily heal, but slowly, they …
Mark Talley, the son of Tops shooting victim Geraldine Talley, is channeling his grief into something positive to help others and to help the …
"Awareness is a necessary prerequisite. But taking the next steps beyond that will require a degree of trust and respect not always exhibited …
Community advocates seeking to develop a farmers market, grocery store and youth jobs incubator on Buffalo’s East Side will share plans to rev…
