By, Carol Fisher Linn
Holiday Valley Ski Patrol getting set to collect donations at Mardi Gras Parade this Saturday, March 14 – 32 years and counting.
So many good stories start with a glimmer of an idea from a single person. After being part of Ellicottville’s Mardi Gras parade for the first few years as a HV Ski Patrol member, a patroller by the name of Bob Barbu (now retired) got an inspiration. Harking to the official longstanding motto of the National Ski Patrol, “Service and Safety”, Barbu transferred the “service” portion of the mission from the ski hills to the community. Ellicottville, for years, has had the blessed good fortune to have a food pantry available to the community. It began about 30 years ago at the United Church. Frances Morton, a member of that church started giving food and necessities away in a small corner of the church, funded and donated by the church membership. Eventually, about twenty years ago, it morphed into the Food Pantry we see today supported now in part by Feed More of Buffalo. Currently, about 75-80 families within a fifteen-mile radius of the church are served weekly by the Ellicottville Food Pantry.
In a conversation with “local” Nancy Rogan, whose family members were the backbone of the church for decades, she revealed some facts that likely most people don’t understand about food pantries. Unexpectedly (to me, anyway) a good number of the patrons are likely not senior citizens (which of course, there are a small number) but rather young people with families, most with both parents working but still not bringing in enough income to put healthy food on the table. There are also those individuals and families who have, in the past, depended on the largesse of our government through SNAP benefits which have now been deeply reduced. This isn’t something you just hear on the news which may or may not be true. This is reality. Parents cannot adequately feed their families, right here in privileged, tourist-geared, outwardly affluent Ellicottville. That, my friends, is a fact of life.
Another surprising fact is that this past year the cost to run the Food Pantry was $60,000 which came from grants, church operating money, generous donations from our community and personal gifts. Being associated with Feed More Buffalo does not mean free food but rather, discounted food. The pantry also supplies diapers, personal hygiene products, shampoo, conditioner, soaps, laundry products, household products, etc., all of which are bought at full price from local discount stores. Dollar General always gives extra help by having a donation jar at the counter and they have been known to donate out-of-season items, etc. These non-food products are procured through the diligent effort, smart shopping and miles travelled by volunteer pantry manager, Valerie Germaine and her husband Bob. As Nancy Rogan stated, they can’t begin to thank enough the Germaines who remain ever faithful and everyone who donates so generously. It truly does take a village.
Enter the Holiday Valley Ski Patrol. Rebecca Mansell, who chairs the Food Drive solo this year while co-chair, Ainsley Kelly, is on her honeymoon (congratulations, newlyweds!) says that the patrol generally shoots for (and has thus far delivered) at least 70-90 cases of food and $3000 (let’s beat that this year) for the Ellicottville Food Pantry. For 32 years! Faithfully! From one two-day food drive during the Mardi Gras parade weekend. Add that up and marvel at their resolve and dogged tenacity (sometimes in inclement weather while sitting at an outside table for hours in front of Tops) to make this happen, and the generosity of those who give either goods or money.