Before the Beth Jacob Cemetery (also known as Doat Street Cemetery) at the end of Lanford Street, Buffalo, was legally transferred to the Jewish Federation Cemetery Corporation in 2002, it had been neglected and struck by extensive vandalism for 40 years. Most of the individuals buried in Beth Jacob Cemetery died in the later 19th or early 20th centuries. Its total accounts are 275 gravestones.

Joshua Finkelstein, a high school sophomore at Nicolas School and a member of Eagle Scout Troop 156 (chartered by the Jewish Community Center), heard about this cemetery from his father, Mark Finkelstein (a troop master of the troop), and designed a project to test his leadership skills.

On February 18, 2008, he wrote a letter proposing clean up and restoration of Beth Jacob Cemetery to the Jewish Federation Cemetery Corporation and got approval the following month.

Tearing down brush, trees, and clutter, repairing or replacing fences, signage, and fallen headstones, the project was successful due to tremendous local support from the troop, their family friends, students from University at Buffalo, congregational members of a nearby church, and members of the board of the Jewish Federation and Temple Beth Zion.