BOSTON (WHDH) - Community members came together at a park in Dorchester to collect donations in honor of an 11-year-old girl who was killed over a pair of sneakers 40 years ago.
The sneaker drive at Ronan Park was in memory of Maryann Hanley, who was killed in the park in August 1983 over allegations of a stolen pair of sneakers.
The sneakers collected in the donations drive will go to local athletes, centers for battered woman, and other organizations that support the less fortunate.
Hanley’s sister, Janet Kulka, said, “For 40 years, I’ve lived with this and my mother passed away last year and I promised her I would get my sister’s name in the park and I would do everything I could for her … I’m trying to make my sister proud and I want her memory to live on.”
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