{"id":5223,"date":"2022-05-19T10:06:08","date_gmt":"2022-05-19T14:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pef.org\/?p=5223"},"modified":"2022-05-19T11:23:53","modified_gmt":"2022-05-19T15:23:53","slug":"you-think-this-could-never-happen-in-my-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pef.org\/articles\/news\/you-think-this-could-never-happen-in-my-town\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018You think this could never happen in my town\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Tops
The exterior of the Tops market in Buffalo where the shootings took place on May 14, 2022.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

PEF Administrator of Membership Benefits Stephanie McLean-Beathley grew up three minutes away from the Tops store on Jefferson Avenue in Buffalo.<\/p>\n

So when news broke on May 14 that multiple people were shot and killed there, her phone lit up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was at a graduation in Buffalo and people started texting me,\u201d she said. \u201cOnce I got home, the Red Cross called and asked if I could assist at the scene.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Red Cross volunteer since 2015 and a licensed master social worker, McLean-Beathley couldn\u2019t believe what she saw when she arrived.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just heart-wrenching grief, people wailing,\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n

McLean-Beathley helped unite families at the scene and offered short term counseling.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want to say it\u2019s OK, give people a shoulder to lean on, to cry on, but you just don\u2019t know,\u201d she said. \u201cYou think this could never happen in my town, and then it happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Members wishing to help\u00a0\u2013 either on the ground in Buffalo or from afar with donations\u00a0\u2013 can visit the links below for details.<\/em><\/p>\n

FeedMore WNY needs volunteers to assemble and distribute meal kits to residents in the neighborhood.
\nhttps:\/\/www.feedmorewny.org\/get-involved\/volunteer\/<\/a><\/p>\n

The United Way is coordinating donations to two funds established to assist survivors of the deceased and others directly impacted by the tragedy.
\nhttps:\/\/www.buffalotogetherfund.org\/together\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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