After seeing a need for a pantry to provide food assistance to residents on Buffalo's Westside, Friends of Night People and West Side Community Services opened Provisions 139 located at 139 Vermont Street in 2021.
“Starting last summer West Side Community Services took over as the sole operators with continued partnership with Friends of Night People but they’re really able to focus more on their mission now and we’re able to focus on ours," said Crystal Selk, executive director of West Side Community Services.
And that mission? Bring fresh food to the community.
“Just making sure that people are able to meet the needs of their household and do it in such a way that it’s not a burden and that we’re able to eliminate that barrier to healthy foods," said Selk.
Through a partnership with Providence Farm Collective, Provisions 139 is able to provide food that resonates culturally with the West Side’s diverse population that includes Karen, Burmese, Somali, and Spanish speakers.
“Things that people can’t get in the normal grocery store or that is maybe out of their price range, we’re able to provide here," said Selk.
“We’re a FeedMore pantry so we’re able to access the food FeedMore has to offer. Friends of Night People provides produce throughout the year and then Good Deeds Grocery store over at I-Prep is helping us to maintain a hygiene corner so people can get basic essential hygiene products," she added.
Mary Schaefer, senior manager of West Side Community Services, says the pantry can average up to 1,000 customers per month but those numbers have increased since SNAP Emergency Allotments ended earlier this year.
“People’s SNAP Allotments have gone down, for some people it could be quite a bit and so money that they had to spend in local grocery stores they no longer have so they may need to come here," Schaefer said.
Schaefer says on a daily basis the pantry serves between 150 to 200 people, sometimes 300. Customers are also able to secure non-food items like cat food donated by the SPCA and diapers through a partnership with Every Bottom Covered Inc.
“Some of the things that we’re able to have like the cat food and the diapers that helps their SNAP dollars go further because they can’t use SNAP to buy those things in a grocery store," said Schaefer.
Provisions 139 is open two days a week on Wednesdays from noon to 3 p.m. and Thursdays from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.