Feb. 3—Last year, Elizabeth Woods decided to turn a personal tragedy into a journey of giving.

It all started with a 10-pound, hairless chihuahua named Porsha.

The dog entered the Woods household in Niagara Falls in January 2013 and quickly became Elizabeth’s close companion.

“Porsha was very unique,” she said. “She was the only surviving puppy from a litter my daughter’s dog had. She was just like my baby.”

In March, Woods said she noticed Porsha wasn’t acting like herself. In April, her dog was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure. By Memorial Day in May, it became clear that their time together was coming to a sad end.

“I took her in (to the veterinarian) the following day and I came home without her,” Woods recalled. “I was beyond grief-stricken. It was really bad. I just cried and cried and cried.”

Woods said it was 10 or so days later when she realized she needed a change in direction to help her better cope with her grief.

She came across an article about challenges faced by foster children. It jogged her memory about an earlier article she saved that focused on how foster children are often forced to leave their homes with only a few personal belongings, sometimes stuffed into garbage bags.

“Something clicked inside of me and I was like, ‘This is what I need to do,’ ” she said.

A self-proclaimed “internet person,” Woods started asking around in various Facebook groups for help in collecting gym bags for foster kids.

A message from one of those groups — Bills Mafia Babes — elicited a surprising and welcome response.

The message came from “Amanda” who wanted to help the cause along with her husband “Micah.”

At first, Woods said, she didn’t realize the message came from Amanda Hyde, the wife of long-time Bills safety Micah Hyde.

“She said, ‘This is what Micah and I do. We love reaching out and helping the children in the community.’ She had mentioned Micah three or four times, but it didn’t click,” Woods said.

The Hydes ordered 150 new gym bags on Amazon and had them delivered to Woods’ home. Woods delivered the bags to the office of Cheryl McMahon, a senior case worker with the Niagara County Department of Social Services. As part of one of the first acts of kindness supported by “Porsha’s Project, social workers in the department were able to distribute the bags for use by foster children in need of something to carry their belongings in.

When she went back on the Bills Mafia Babes Facebook page to thank the Hydes, Woods said more people started reaching out to ask what else she needed.

The responses prompted the creation of an Amazon wish list where donors can donate bags, toothbrushes, packages of underwear and other personal items to support foster children in Niagara County.

Woods said many of her co-workers at GHD, a local architecture and engineering firm where she works as an administrator, got involved as well.

“Pretty soon I started getting multiple Amazon deliveries every day. My house started to look like a shipping and receiving area,” Woods said.

In addition to helping out Niagara County’s foster care program, Woods started donating items to Rainie’s Foster Closet, a non-profit organization located in North Tonawanda that helps provide clothing and other items to foster and kinship families in need.

Woods has now made four large deliveries to the county social services office and Rainie’s Foster Closet.

Jessica Dybdahl and her sister opened Rainie’s Foster Closet on Oliver Street in September 2019. The closet provides foster care families and children with up to seven days worth of clothing, books, toys and personal hygiene items.

Dybdahl described the shipments from Woods, especially the donation of the gym bags, as a “blessing.”

“It has really helped out because we were getting low on the suitcases and stuff like that,” she said. “It’s a big need to have something for them because you don’t want them to feel like they are a piece of trash just going around with a garbage bag.”

During the holiday season, supporters of Porsha’s Project helped make Christmas a little brighter for area foster children through the purchase and donations of toys.

In January and February, Woods and company are concentrating on helping another worthy cause — a diaper and baby wipe drive coordinated by the Niagara County Department of Social Services.

Thanks to the growth in the donation and sharing network, Woods said these days her house feels less like “shipping and receiving” and more like a “full-blown Amazon warehouse.”

She said she’s both amazed and grateful at the response and is especially touched by shipments delivered by anonymous donors, often from communities outside of Western New York and even New York state.

Woods, whose mother passed away on Nov. 17 — the day Woods should have been celebrating her own birthday — said all of the giving has strengthened her faith in people and her outlook on humanity.

“I just wanted to give bags to kids to make sure they don’t have to use a garbage bag again and from there it grew into so much more and I’m very grateful for all of the help,” she said. “I don’t care if somebody donates a 99-cent toothbrush, you are making a difference for somebody and I think that’s what we have to do.”

“From where it started, with just bags to now having this wish list that has, I don’t know 25 or 30 items on it and getting random packages, it’s amazing to me,” she added. “It gives me hope for society. I kind of lost faith in the way things were going but then I got packages in the mail from people I didn’t know and they say, ‘We want to help your kids.’ They call them my kids. They are not my kids, but we want to take care of them. The better we take care of them, the more they are going to succeed in life.”