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Recently, I blogged about resilience. All communities should have a resilience plan in place. They should also be educating their students about resilience. But what about food shortages?
You would never pinpoint Buffalo for the type of city that has food shortages. It is known for its wide selection of wings and beef on weck. Buffalo is a mixture of cultures. German, Polish, Puerto Rican, Mexican, Chinese, Indian, and many more ethnicities can find restaurants to represent their culture here in Buffalo. Though Buffalo isn’t comparable to parts of Africa and China, in all this variety, there is still hunger.
The WNY Food Bank serves 100,000 people monthly. You may know that the Food Bank serves meals, but you may not know about the other interesting programs it has in place.
Agency Assistance Program
This program provides member agencies with purchased nutritional food and access to refrigerators, freezers, and food preparation and storage equipment to better serve the needs of their clients. This allows member agencies to store more perishable items and greatly increases their ability to provide more nutritional meals to the needy.
Emergency Infant Formula & Baby Needs Program
This program meets the emergency needs of infants and children by providing them with a supply of infant formula, baby food and baby care items.
The Garden Project
This project consists of several garden beds on the Food Bank’s premises, which are maintained by volunteers, agencies, and neighbors throughout the growing season. The gardens are used to grow nutritious produce and to educate individuals about the importance of eating fruits and vegetables by teaching them about gardening and nutrition.
Kids Café® /Youth Programs
These programs provide meals to disadvantaged children under the age of 17 in an environment which is safe, accessible and convenient. The children receive a well balanced meal before being tutored and taught life skills.
Nutrition Education & Food Safe Handling Programs
These programs put on workshops to teach member agencies and their clients and volunteers about nutrition, food safety, recipe ideas and cooking. The programs are taught by our registered dietitian, who can tailor them to address specific health needs.
Wh***sale Shopping
This program provides agencies with the convenience of “one stop” shopping at prices comparable to wh***sale levels. Both food and non-food items are offered.
The WNY economic downturn has left many more individuals in real need of basic necessities such as food. These programs are a step in the right direction to resilience and sustainability. They not only involve the community, but they also involve local farmers and artisans, and in essence give back more than they hoped they would.
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