By Delainey Muscato – St. Bonaventure University
This year, the Ellicottville office of Howard Hanna has decided to give back in a new way. The office will be collecting donations for the Great Valley food pantry and Ellicottville food pantry.
Sandra Goode, the Ellicottville office sales manager, shared her excitement at this new opportunity to give back to the community.
“We always try to get involved in the community and help out where we can,” Goode said. This drive will help support two food pantries in the area that are always in need of donations.
at 207 Rock City Street in Little Valley, NY 14755
and can be reached at (716) 665-8540. The Ellicottville
food pantry is located in the United Church of
Ellicottville at 53 Elizabeth Street in Ellicottville, NY
14731 and can be reached at (716) 699-4003.
Jan Benson, coordinator at the Great Valley food pantry said that the pantry is currently helping to support between 45 to 50 families. At this time last year, Benson said the pantry was supporting about 35 families. Their need for donations of any kind has increased.
In addition to families from Great Valley, Benson said they see people from Kill Buck, Little Valley, Salamanca, Humphrey and other surrounding hamlets and villages. Oftentimes, people cannot go to their designated food pantries, Benson said, because their schedules do not align with the pantry’s hours.
“The Little Valley pantry is open from 9am-1pm on Fridays. If someone is working at that time, they won’t be able to stop by, so we see a lot of people with that issue,” Benson said.
Benson said they always seem to be running out of canned goods, like canned fruits and vegetables, so those are always good items for donations. Other needed items include cereal, peanut butter, pasta, and spaghetti.
Benson shared that Goode called her a few weeks ago to share the good news that Howard Hanna would be collecting donations to split between the two local food pantries. Since then, there have already been a few deliveries of donations from the office. Donations can be brought to the office at 34 Washington Street in Ellicottville year-round.
“A little goes a long way,” said Goode. “Everyone chipping in a can here and there helps a lot”. The office is open 7 days a week for donations.
Benson shared that people who rely on the pantries are very grateful. The purpose of the pantry is to supply a family with three days worth of food. In addition to donations from community members and organizations like Howard Hanna, the pantry itself purchases pizzas from Little Cesar’s and provides frozen meat for families to take home.
The pantry is also very grateful for the help from Howard Hanna, Benson said. Both Benson and Goode stressed the importance of supporting the food pantries because of all the families and individuals the pantries help to support. People from many different areas rely on these food pantries and they need all the donations they can get, especially after the effects of the pandemic, including food shortages, many Americans are facing food insecurity and may be using a food pantry for the first time. Small communities, like Ellicottville and Great Valley, rely heavily on community donations to feed as many mouths as possible. Donating what you can is simple and like Goode said, a little truly goes a long way.