It has been one year since 12-year-old Aliza Spencer was shot and killed near her home on Binghamton’s east side. Police still don’t know who fired the gun or why.
But one group of neighbors has tried to keep her name alive, in the form of a roadside food pantry.
Almost every tree in Aliza Spencer’s neighborhood has a purple ribbon tied around it. Purple was the her favorite color.
There are signs up and down the blocks, offering a $32,000 reward for any information about her killing. And on the corner of East Fredrick St. and Bigelow St., there’s a wooden box, painted purple and full of food; the “Aliza Spencer Blessing Box”.
“We've got a little door on it," said Heather Prow, who helps run the roadside pantry. "And we can store canned goods or any sort of nonperishables. When it's cold out, sometimes we can get some fresh vegetables in there when we have them. We fill it up as soon as we notice it's empty.”
Prow, her friend Courtney Salmini and Courtney’s daughter Leksi Blanchard all run the roadside pantry. Twenty-four hours a day, people can come by at any time and take whatever they need. Blanchard refills the box, sometimes multiple times a day.
There’s a Facebook page too, where people can ask for help with items like diapers, clothes, and food. They even put together care packages with donated items. They recently delivered 60 Easter baskets to local families with kids. Good Neighbors, a food distribution and volunteer organization, helps them with food donations.
“We've helped people, and then they get in a more stable situation and they'll bring bags of groceries to us,” Prow said.
Salmini said they’re trying to keep the focus on Aliza Spencer. After her death, she said the community was quiet and shaken.
In August, Salmini and her daughter, Blanchard, started to build the box. They got purple paint, canned goods and wood from other people in the community.
“Law enforcement is doing their part, from what we've heard, but we need to do more,” Salmini said. “We need to keep her name alive and her memory.”
On April 29, along with Good Neighbors, the group will hold a free food giveaway at Hands of Hope Free Methodist Church, followed by a rally calling for justice for Aliza Spencer.
Despite following hundreds of leads, police say they still have not identified any suspects in the case. Neighborhood camera footage has suggested there were no cars on the street when Aliza Spencer was killed, while walking with her father near her home. Police detectives said they are using 3D scanning technology to further investigate the crime scene, to determine where the bullet came from.
Anyone with knowledge about Aliza Spencer’s killing should contact the Binghamton Police Department.