A crowd watches as Stefon Diggs gives students gifts during a back-to school bash for kids at the Tops on Jefferson Avenue in Buffalo, NY on August 31, 2022. Diggs was a surprise guest for the event, which was held by Mayor Byron Brown. (Joseph Cooke / Buffalo News)
It was supposed to be a secret.
The mayor was throwing a surprise back-to-school bash in the parking lot of the Tops Markets on Jefferson Avenue for the kids in the neighborhood. And there was going to be a special guest – Buffalo Bills wide receiver Stefon Diggs – who would be handing out 300 free backpacks.
Somehow, word got out, and by 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, when the party was set to start, at least 2,000 people were already lined up from the parking lot all the way down Landon Street.
"We will probably run out," Mayor Byron W. Brown warned the growing crowd.
While a few people were disappointed and walked away early, many remained, happy for the chance to meet Diggs and to be part of something joyful at a site that will always be synonymous with grief and pain because of the mass shooting there May 14 that left 10 people dead.
At Buffalo's Day of Hope and Healing, 3,000 backpacks, nonperishable food and health services were provided at Stanley Makowski Early Childhood Center, just blocks from where the Tops shooting occurred.
Keisha Rogers, who waited in line with her four children and dog, said the event was a "good thing" for the community. She was at the back of line and wasn't thrilled to hear that they would likely run out of backpacks before she could get there.
"I feel they should have supplied more," she said.
Yet, she was happy to see lots of people gathered around the parking lot.
Three and a half months after the mass shooting, the parking lot was filled with families. A DJ blared music. Kids got free hair cuts. There were police officers and firefighters around and police tape was strung across the lot, but that was for crowd control. Burgers were on the grill and ice cream was being given away.
LaToya Green holds up her nephew Trey Green, 7, beside her daughter Jceonna Green, 11, as they wait for Stefon Diggs to toss out gifts.
And one of the stars of the NFL was there to raise people's spirits and send some Buffalo kids off to school with some style.
"I want to thank God for putting me in the position to be able to bless other people," Diggs told the crowd. "Pushing it forward, I definitely know we're all facing hard times recently in the last couple months. My objective was to impact the youth, let the kids know that we're there."
Diggs said he remembers when he was still in school and he would need a backpack.
"My mom had to make some things happen," he said, so that he could have one.
He handed out gray Nike backpacks until they ran out and posed for photos with many more fans.
Diggs had a special present for Londin Thomas, an 8-year-old girl who was at Tops with her parents when the attack started. She hid in a cooler with her dad until the shooting was over.
On Wednesday, Diggs signed a football for the little girl, who had a Bills logo painted on her left cheek for the occasion.
Johnnie Gamble, 15, shows off a football that Stefon Diggs signed during a back-to school bash for kids at the Tops on Jefferson Avenue in Buffalo, NY on August 31, 2022. Diggs was a surprise guest for the event, which was held by Mayor Byron Brown. (Joseph Cooke / Buffalo News)
Chevelle Hollingsworth and Gregory Dargan brought daughters Chadae Williams, 14, and Jemaiyah Bailey, 8.
They were way back in the line.
"She needs everything," Hollingsworth said of her older daughter.
Jemaiyah said she already got one at another backpack giveaway. But she still needed a lot of school supplies – a lunch box, a water bottle and a binder.
The parents weren't too hopeful about getting backpacks for the girls. But they figured they would stay for the chance to meet Diggs.
They have been back a couple of times to shop at the Tops. Hollingsworth recalled one trip, when they took the bus to the store, when another passenger gave them grief over their Tops bags. She couldn't understand why.
Hollingsworth was glad to see the crowds and festivity at the store. She thought it might bring more people back.
"Go Bills," Dargan said. "We made it all the way here," he said of their trip that way. "We might as well stay."
Stefon Diggs gives a young student a backpack.
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A crowd watches as Stefon Diggs gives students gifts during a back-to school bash for kids at the Tops on Jefferson Avenue in Buffalo, NY on August 31, 2022. Diggs was a surprise guest for the event, which was held by Mayor Byron Brown. (Joseph Cooke / Buffalo News)
Johnnie Gamble, 15, shows off a football that Stefon Diggs signed during a back-to school bash for kids at the Tops on Jefferson Avenue in Buffalo, NY on August 31, 2022. Diggs was a surprise guest for the event, which was held by Mayor Byron Brown. (Joseph Cooke / Buffalo News)
Stefon Diggs gives a young student a backpack.
LaToya Green holds up her nephew Trey Green, 7, beside her daughter Jceonna Green, 11, as they wait for Stefon Diggs to toss out gifts.
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