BUFFALO, N.Y. — A Buffalo nurse has made it her mission in life to help others, and in the past year, she has opened her heart to helping as many Tops associates as possible.
Trinetta Alston is now an honorary Tops employee.
"Nursing is the only field where you can genuinely show you care for somebody, and they don't think you want nothing in return, and I don't," said nurse Trinetta Alston.
Alston plays many roles at the Community Health Center of Buffalo, but her involvement with helping Tops associates heal began the Monday after the shooting.
"It started out, you know, just listening to the Tops associates that came in to speak to us. And, after that it's like, you know, I'm wondering, like, as a nurse, nobody's hurt, I didn't understand why I was there. Right? And, it just evolved from there, you know, people are put in places for reasons, and mine was to connect with them to let them know that everybody didn't forget about them, that they are important, and that we care," said Trinetta Alston.
Alston now goes to Tops two to three times a week to check on everyone, give them hugs, and make sure they know she's available 24/7 to talk.
"The things that they saw, they can't un-see, you know, so this is where I'm supposed to be. I'm supposed to be here with them, walking them through whatever it is they need to be walked through," said Trinetta Alston.
"What does it mean to you to have somebody like Trinetta in your life?" asked Kelly Dudzik.
"It means a lot. She definitely was there for me when all this happened at Tops and for my kids, too," said Larose Palmer, a Tops cashier.
"Just a life-saver. Truly a life-saver," said Rachez McCullough-Moore, a Tops office manager. "Got myself in a financial bind. And Trinetta came to me quietly, very quietly, now I'm telling the world, but she came to me very quietly and asked if she could be of any help to me. And I was a little hesitant at first, but I was desperate and about a week later, what her and I had discussed came to fruition, and it helped me out of a financial crisis that I was in."
For Alston, she's made it her life's work to serve our community. Years ago, she experienced homelessness and faced addiction, until others helped her through her struggles.
"I firmly believe that God walked with me through my addiction, put people in places for me, so that now I can be that person that's in place for them," said Trinetta Alston. "I just want to be able to, at the end of the day when I close my eyes, to be able to say job well done. That's all I want. And, I get to do that here."