Drive raises $17,000 for Food Bank of WNY

Buffalo Bills owner Ralph C. Wilson Jr. tries to get his credit card back from his wife, Mary, who is threatening to add it to the Food Bank collection before Sunday's game. Photo by Patrick McPartland

The New York Jets weren't the only winners at Sunday's game at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

The Food Bank of Western New York picked up some needed donations during the ninth-annual Fan Food Drive before the Bills-Jets game. Fans donated $8652.65 this year. With a matching donation from Buffalo Bills owner Ralph C. Wilson Jr. and his wife Mary, a total of $17,305.30 in monetary donations was raised for the Food Bank of Western New York.

The money, along with food collected at the gates, will go a long way to fulfill the Food Bank's mission of feeding the less fortunate in the community.

Tops Food Markets donated another 1,000 pounds of food to the Food Bank.

Over the past nine years, the Fan Food Drive has collected close to 61,000 pounds of food and raised more than $125,000 for the Food Bank. Last year's drive raised a total of $11,000 and 3,753 pounds of food.

The Food Bank, through its network of more than 400 member agencies in Western New York, distributes close to 1,000,000 pounds of food each month. This equates to 1,180,000 meals provided to 93,000 less fortunate individuals every month.