By Barbara Arnstein
The Trading Post, a combination community food pantry and thrift store, is a safety net for a number of local communities including Erie County, Cattaraugus and Wyoming counties, and rural areas where few emergency resources are available. The store, located at 38 Franklin Street in Springville, is a vital resource providing many needed items to people who have few places to turn to for their everyday needs. This time of year, along with your other holiday gift-giving, consider giving money, time, or good-quality clothing to this worthy cause, or donating gift cards for your business for its annual gift card calendar fundraiser. Peggy Austin, the director since 2018 (when the Revive Wesleyan church assumed responsibility for it) said that one Christmas, “A single mom whom we were able to supply with food, clothing, diapers and toys, told me, with tears in her eyes, ‘Thank you so much! I didn’t know what I was going to do for Christmas this year!'” Donations to the post have come from Kiwanis, 211, St. John the Baptist in Boston, Fox Run and others in the surrounding area.
At the thrift store, blouses, shirts and jackets cost only a few dollars, and designer clothing is often to be found on the racks. The other items for sale typically include various kinds of accessories, including shoes, jewelry, small household items and toys. “All the money from the donated items we sell helps to pay for the utilities”, said Ms. Austin.
The hard-working volunteers treat everyone with dignity and give them hope. Every year, Ms. Austin and her team of dedicated volunteers spend around 10,000 hours helping people. “We are the community center where volunteers get to give back to the place they depend on”, she said. In the past, the Trading Post held a Souper Bowl fundraiser in February to help cover its costs, but now, every November, it has a gift card calendar fundraiser. When the raffle drawings are being held, it’s fun to buy a calendar and watch the daily drawings on Facebook at “Trading Post Community Care center”. to see if you’re the lucky winner of a valuable gift card for a popular local store or business. If you or your business would like to donate a gift card, contact Ms. Austin at (716) 592-4455. “It’s proven a popular fundraiser, and we are excited to do it again each year”, she said.
“It is only with the support of donors like the calendar buyers that we can continue assisting families in our community and meeting more than 40,000 requests for food, clothing and infant needs each year.”, she said. “Thank you for considering us in your 2024 giving.” Since the Covid pandemic ended its sit-down community lunches, the pantry now provides takeout lunches every Friday from 10am to noon. Several hundred individuals are given nutritious lunches monthly, including the working poor, single-income families and elderly people. In addition, it is currently helping with the basic food, clothing and infant needs for 800 people each month, doing a great deal with a frugal budget.
The Trading Post truly lives up to its motto, which is, “Meeting Everyday Needs, With Extraordinary Love”! The Take Out Lunch is every Friday from 10am to noon, and the Mobile Food Truck is at the Concord Senior Center on the third Friday of every month at noon. The Thrift Store is open on Tuesdays from noon to 4pm, and Wednesdays (when things are half-price), Fridays and Saturdays between 10am-2pm. The Trading Post will be closed between December 24, 2024 and February 3, 2025. To get your choice on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays between 10am and noon, the Feeding America Food Pantry asks for grocery lists to be submitted by 11:45am. To contact Peggy Austin, email: paustin@revivewesleyan.com.