Paula Coleman walks the quarter mile from her "senior apartment" building at 1500 Jefferson Ave. to the free food distribution site at the Resource Council of WNY several times a week to pick up food for herself and some other seniors in the building who can't get out.
She said the site on East Ferry Street has been a huge help to many people who relied on the Jefferson Avenue Tops market that's been closed since a white supremacist shooter killed 10 people and injured three there on May 14.
“This service has been extremely helpful, not just by saving us money, but I would go to Tops three or four times a week,” Coleman said. “To me, this is like coming to Tops, and it calms me.”
People are also reading…
But Coleman and others will have fewer opportunities to visit the food distribution site, beginning on Saturday, when its hours will be scaled back.
FeedMore WNY and the Resource Council had been holding the outdoor distributions from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily in the council parking lot since May 18. But FeedMore announced Thursday morning it would scale back the distributions after Saturday, May 28.
The regional food bank said it would add additional food distributions through July 8 but would cut the hours to two half-days a week, 3 to 7 p.m. Wednesdays at the Resource Council and 3 to 7 p.m. Fridays at the Johnnie B. Wiley Pavilion on Jefferson Avenue.
Volunteers from the Girl Scouts and National Grid helped package and give out food and personal items at the East Side community food distribution site at 347 E. Ferry St. on Thursday.
The decision to go from supplying food 84 hours a week to eight came as a surprise to Resource Council workers, who have been seeing an average of 1,100 people a day coming to the site to receive milk, juice and produce from a Tops refrigerated truck and bags of donated food and personal items supplied by FeedMore and other community supporters.
Within hours of the announcement, the Resource Council moved to ensure the busy site will continue at least three days a week, from 2 to 7 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays (excluding Memorial Day) at least through the month of July, said the Rev. Terry King, pastor of Saving Grace Ministries and chair of the Resource Council board.
“I praise FeedMore for the massive effort they have put in the past couple weeks to make sure the food and distribution network is in place for this community,” King said. “We knew there would be a transition at some point and we are hopeful the Tops store will reopen soon. But meanwhile, the Resource Council is committed that we are not going to be distributing food only one day a week.”
The free food distribution site at the Resource Council of WNY parking lot on East Ferry Street was busy all day Thursday, even though residents were unaware the service would scale back to three days a week after Memorial Day. The Resource Council said an average of 1,100 people a day have been coming to the site daily for food and community after their supermarket was shut down by a racist mass shooting that killed 10 and injured three on May 14.
He said FeedMore will still provide “robust” distributions on Wednesday afternoons at the Resource Council and Fridays at Wiley – although by all accounts, many more people are using the East Ferry site.
FeedMore WNY spokesman Collin Bishop said FeedMore decided to cut back to a half day a week at the two sites to serve people more efficiently – including directing resources back to the 11 food pantries it stocks within a mile radius of the Jefferson Tops, as well as its Meals on Wheels service.
FeedMore WNY is stocking 11 food pantries within a mile radius of the Tops on Jefferson Avenue:
"We want to move people to a model that is more sustainable," Bishop said. "We want to encourage people to visit their local pantries."
He said FeedMore will continue to reassess the need going forward, but the focus on pantries will give patrons the flexibility to visit as often as needed, with a better selection and a more store-like experience.
“It’s one thing seeing everything on social media and hearing what’s been going on, but to actually be here and see the flowers from victim’s families and to see the site where this happened, it just hits you completely differently,” said Bills tight end Dawson Knox.
“How frequently do you go to the grocery store?” Bishop said. “You don’t necessarily pick up food every day.”
But patrons picking up food at the Resource Council said it wasn’t unusual for them to visit Tops every day because many lack reliable transportation and they can only walk with so many bags at a time.
Several also noted the Tops was a main social outlet for the community, a place neighbors met frequently to catch up.
Theresa Washington, a 27-year resident of the East Side, said she greatly enjoys the free open-air market on East Ferry.
“It’s a good idea having this because a lot of people don’t have transportation, and it’s bringing the community together,” she said. “There is just so much positivity wrapped up in this event. I love it. It’s a beautiful thing.”
King said Tops has promised its refrigerated truck will remain there at least through July, and many other partners have pledged their support.
“Tops was a different store, it’s a community,” King said. “People are coming here for much more than food. We are helping, we are healing, we are loving and we are lifting our community in their time of need."
