Students make a difference with annual 'Walk-A-Thon'

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) -- For more than 15 years, the Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts has been making strides to help students learn more about giving back to the community.

"Giving them an opportunity like this to find ways to create change and to see that they can have a voice and they can make a difference is a great learning experience for them," said Stephanie Sacco, a school social worker.

Leading up to the Walk-A-Thon, students raise money, and then on the day of the Walk-A-Thon, they walk from their school on Masten Avenue to the Rose Garden at Delaware Park and back.

"The purpose for our Walk-A-Thons every year is to raise money and awareness for the arts but also to establish in the hearts and minds of our students the importance of giving back to the community," said Jody Covington, the school's principal. "We pride ourselves on developing the minds of our children here not only in the academics and the arts, but also we want to develop their hearts."

This year's Walk-A-Thon raised $6,000, and the school is donating $3,000 to Family Promise of WNY.

"Homelessness is something that impacts folks from all walks of life, and it's something that we're learning just through our partnership with the Family Promise Center. So we wanted our children to not only understand the importance of taking care of themselves but also the importance of giving back," said Covington.

Family Promise of WNY has been working with local families for around 30 years. They said that on any given night, there are more than 200 families in Erie County that need emergency housing.

"Homelessness right now, I think people can see that it's in the public more than ever. The funding cuts coming out of the federal government are destabilizing our communities, they're taking away things like SNAP, they're taking away things like childcare, they're taking away things like permanent supportive housing. And families are becoming destabilized without these supports in place," said Luanne Firestone, the executive director of Family Promise of WNY.

Firestone said that 75% of the people they work with are children.

"We love it when children in the community step up to help kids in need. The kids that we serve are in every school district, every school system here, they're in every school. So you might not know that your classmate sitting next to you might be experiencing homelessness or experiencing a housing insecurity program," said Firestone. "It's really important that we all come together to say that kids deserve that -- all of our attention and love and support. And that we can all step up, whether we're an adult or a child, we can all step up as a community to help solve this problem."

For more information on Family Promise of WNY, visit its website here.