News

2nd Annual Fairport Book Drive

We are excited to announce that we are partnering with the Rochester Education Foundation for a book drive to support their Give Back, Give Books program. The program will run from April 9th – April 19th.

We have donation boxes in the following locations:

We will be accepting new and used books (in “like-new” condition). Here is the Rochester Education Foundation’s wishlist:

If you prefer to buy local, please consider visiting Hipocampo Children’s Books located in the South Wedge.

Fairport Rotary Presentation

It was such an honor to speak at the Fairport Rotary meeting on Monday, December 18th 2023. They are a world-class organization that does so much to help others.

We had a great dinner and met a lot of nice people. We then gave a slide show presentation to the group. We enjoyed sharing our story and interacting with the members during the Question and Answer session.

We’d like to thank to Becky Wilson and President Tom Wolanski for this wonderful opportunity. Their members also brought in shoe donations. We are so appreciative and will make sure the donations go to areas of our community where they can help the most.

News 8 PrimeTime585 Good Citizen Award

PrimeTime585Award2023
Calvin receiving the News 8 PrimeTime585 Good Citizen of the Year Award

We were so blessed for Calvin to have been presented with the first News 8 PrimeTime585 Good Citizen Award. It was a wonderful experience to be honored alongside so many amazing athletes from Section V.

Thank you to News 8 and PrimeTime585 for putting this award show together and making it so special for the honorees and their families.

See the video and more details here:

https://www.rochesterfirst.com/sports/high-school-sports/news8-primetime585-elite-awards/news-8-primetime-elite-good-citizen/

2023 Winter Coat and Toy Drive with PrimeTime585

PrimeTime585-Freeze Logo

As Rochester’s weather starts to turn cold we are once again partnering with Primetime585 on a Coat and Toy drive!

Golisano Children’s Hospital – Sickle Cell Unit
PrimeTime585 has adopted the Sickle Cell Unit at Golisano Children’s Hospital. Sickle Cell Disease is an inherited blood disorder that is present at birth. It can be diagnosed in children as young as 6 months old. It is a painful disease that can lead to infection, cause strokes, and can require many blood transfusions. While this unit is serving over 150 children, it wasn’t as well known as others, and therefore wasn’t receiving many donations. Primetime585 is working to change that.

*** Coats and Toys must be new for the hospital. ***

Rochester City Schools
Primetime585 has also adopted 6 city schools, 2 rural schools, and 3 homeless centers which house kids, to provide coats and toys. Gently used coats and new toys are being collected to support families in these under-resourced areas.

More Information
Vertical Boost is assisting PrimeTime585 by helping collect the donations in Fairport at the following locations:

The collection boxes will be open until Friday, December 15th. Thank you in advance for all of your support!

Fairport Scarecrow Festival 2023 – Raffle

Fairport Scarecrow Festival 2023
Fairport Scarecrow Festival 2023

We are offering a chance to win one $20 Dick’s Sporting Goods Gift Card. You can earn entries into the raffle by doing one (or both) of the following between Thursday, September 28th, 2023 through and including all of Sunday, October 1st, 2023:

  • 1 entry – follow us on one of our 3 social media platforms
  • 1 entry – snap a picture with our scarecrow and post it on social media (remember to @ us on your post)

Yes, you can gain 1 entry per each platform! So if you follow us on all 3, then you can get 3 entries.

On Monday, October 2nd, 2023 we will draw one entry at random and award the $20 gift card to that single winner. We will announce the results on our website and all of our social media platforms. Good luck!

We are looking to increase our reach on social media to keep people aware of our events and opportunities to help. We routinely collect gently used items such as sneakers, coats, toys, books, and more. We clean them up and donate them to the areas of greatest need within our community. We promise that we won’t spam you, contact you (unless you win), sell your information, or anything bad like that.

Here are the 3 eligible social media platforms:

*** Update: Congratulations to Isabella M. on winning our $20 raffle! Thanks to all who participated! ***

2nd Annual Summer Sneaker Drive – Final

After distributing a large amount of the donated sneakers at the Pines of Perinton Back to School Event, we met up with our friends from PrimeTime585. They were also collecting sneakers for kids in need in both urban and rural locations. We donated our remaining collection to their cause, knowing that they would do a great job getting them to the areas of greatest need. Thank you again to all of our donors and partners! We really appreciate your kindness and support!

2nd Annual Summer Sneaker Drive #2

2nd Annual Summer Sneaker Drive

Everyone deserves a chance to play! Studies consistently show that participating in sports can lead to immediate and long-term benefits for youth, their families, and communities. Aside from the physical benefits, sports can help teach teamwork and problem-solving skills. Sports have also been proven to keep youth from falling into cycles of anti-social behavior, violence, crime, and drug use.

As high school students, we noticed that sneakers were one of the prime barriers preventing kids from participating in sports. Last year we held our 1st Summer Sneaker Drive. We collected and distributed over 200 pairs of sneakers to our local Fairport and Rochester community. We are hoping that with your help, we can meet and exceed last year’s impact!

We are basketball players and therefore saw the immediate need there. Everyone knows that you can’t play hoops without sneakers, and those sneakers can be expensive. Many basketball shoes are still in great shape at season’s end. By the time the next season starts, they may be too small for you, but they still have plenty to give. Those sneakers could enable someone else to experience all the joys of playing basketball. The same goes for other sports as we have seen a need for soccer, football, and baseball cleats. We have also encountered many people in need of dress shoes and everyday school shoes. Any donation helps!

We are kicking off our 2nd Annual Summer Sneaker Drive with donation boxes set up at various basketball camps and the Perinton Recreation Center. We plan to collect the donations, clean them up, and then distribute them to programs in the local community.

We ask that you kindly consider donating to help this worthy cause.

Special thanks to all of our gracious partners who help support our projects!