Next week kids from the STAR program are going to the Buffalo Zoo to catch up with some of the Buffalo Bills as they kick off the their season spending time with young people from around the region. Members of the team will talk with the kids about making healthy choices around food, exercise and in their social relationships. Each of the kids will also come away with a new pair of sneakers.

Can you remember the last time you got a new pair of sneakers? The extra bounce it gave to your step the first day you wore them just seemed to make the day better. When I was young, a person with clean new sneaks was likely to hear about how white they were and jump in the first available puddle to mess them up a bit. But now, they are more of a fashion statement. A person is usually a clean sneaker person or a dirty sneaker person. Some people have different pairs for different days of the week.

This is not the case with many of the kids in our program. You know from your own experience with kids how fast they can grow out of their shoes. One day last winter, one of the kids from our program had missed the school bus. She knew her mom would be mad if she went home, so instead she walked over to our building. When I got to my office, I found her crying in the lobby. Her feet hurt; she was cold, and she was in trouble. Her feet hurt because she was wearing shoes that were much smaller than her feet. I asked her about them and they were the only ones she had. We scrounged around through the donations that come our way and came up with another pair for her. Then we got her to school and a day that had started out looking bad turned out okay. With the donation of new sneaks for the kids our program, the Buffalo Bills are helping them all have better days ahead. Thanks!