OLEAN, N.Y. — When Blaze Maholic was given an assignment at school to conduct a school project of any kind for the year, the 15-year-old decided he wanted to round-up new shoes for homeless people in the area.
Blaze, a 10th-grader at Otto-Eldred Junior Senior High School in Duke Center, Pa., then did research on the matter with his mother, Tanya Brown, and decided to provide the donated shoes to Genesis House, a homeless shelter on South Barry Street in Olean. With his father, Matt Maholic, Blaze also set up a GoFundMe page that he titled “Shoes for the Homeless” and received a good response.
Blaze, of Duke Center, said his high school science teacher, Karen Farmell, gave him the idea for the collection when she asked her students to conduct projects that would provide life experiences for them.
After Blaze’s father set up the GoFundMe page, the donations started pouring in.
And while he didn’t count the number of shoes donated, Blaze said they dropped off about six garbage bags full of the footwear to the homeless shelter that included Nike and Vans brands. After more shoes are donated, Blaze said he plans to drop them off at the shelter at a later date, along with monetary donations.
“We want to donate the money to Genesis House so they can get other things like clothing and hygiene things,” he explained.
Blaze’s mother said her son selected Genesis House as it is “family oriented and not just for individuals — and knowing he was going to get a lot of kid shoes he wanted to do something that was for families.
“So far, all of the shoes that we have acquired are brand new,” Brown continued.
She noted that as her son is “really big on shoes,” he purchased some of the shoes online with funds from GoFundMe.
Brown said the project is not all that out-of-the-ordinary for her son, as he has always been a very generous person.
“He’s very thoughtful for a child his age … and he’s very compassionate; all of my (four) boys have compassion, but he has more than any kid I’ve seen his age,” she observed.
She said Blaze has a twin, as well as brothers who are ages 17 and 23.
Deb Westcott, executive director of Genesis House, said she also found Blaze to be a very nice young man during his recent visit to the shelter.
“He stayed and helped sort all the shoes and was hoping we could help all who were in need,” Westcott recalled. “We knew he was coming, but were really surprised to see the amount of shoes. Of course our folks here all got a much-needed gift of a couple pairs of shoes.
“Many times we see people who are in need of shoes as well as other items of clothing,” she added. “We try to help all who are in need that come to our door. Thanks to people like Blaze, and so many others, we are able, in most cases, to do that.”
