FeedMore Western New York

FeedMore WNY is holding its annual Champions for Meals this week,  where government officials and community leaders help deliver meals to homebound older adults to raise awareness for FeedMore’s Meals on Wheels program. It also marks 12 months since the COVID-19 pandemic began. WBFO’s Older Adults Reporter Tom Dinki provides a look at how Meals on Wheels has more than doubled its client base in that time.

"Filling in the gaps" was the term being used as cars slowly made their way through the parking lot of Mt. Olive Baptist Church on East Delavan Avenue on Buffalo’s East Side Wednesday. 

Meals on Wheels for Western New York wants to deliver to even more older adults to keep them home and safe due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. 

There’s just one problem.

Many Meals on Wheels delivery volunteers are older adults themselves, meaning they may be just as likely to become seriously ill from COVID-19 as the seniors they’re trying to protect. 

For the last few years, retired West Seneca teachers have helped fill backpacks with items like cereal bars and cans of tuna fish for the Food Bank of Western New York. The Food Bank program helps tide over about 3,500 disadvantaged kids during the weekends they’re without free school lunch and breakfast.

The teachers now do this under the name of FeedMore Western New York, after the Food Bank merged with Meals on Wheels for Western New York.

September is Hunger Action Month, and one place where it’s increasingly important to fight hunger is on college campuses.

Food insecurity is a growing problem for college students across the U.S. But as WBFO's senior reporter Eileen Buckley tell us, SUNY Erie Community College and FeedMore WNY have formed a partnership to establish food pantries at all ECC Campuses.

The Food Bank of Western New York, Meals on Wheels for Western New York and the Meals on Wheels Foundation of Western New York have joined forces to form a joint organization called FeedMore WNY. WBFO's Mark Wozniak spoke with FeedMore president and CEO Tara Ellis about the unification.