Donations made easy with Food Shuttle WNY
by ELIZABETH TAUFA Reporter

Food Shuttle of WNY volunteer Michael Summers hands off a bag of food to fellow volunteer and St. Gregory the Great student Vincent Bargnes, 12, as his father, Vince, waits to drive the delivery to the Friends of Night People shelter in downtown Buffalo. Photo by Joe Eberle Purchase color photos at www.BeeNews.com

In 1989, a group of parishioners at St. Gregory the Great Church in Williamsville made the decision to do something about hunger within their community.

Their answer? The Food Shuttle of Western New York.

"We pick food up every day from around 100 providers and take it to around 120 recipients all over the area," said Joan Heine, assistant Amherst coordinator.

The Food Shuttle is a volunteer run organization that transports excess food from supermarkets, bakeries, restaurants and other food sources to places in need such as soup kitchens, food pantries, homeless shelters and low-income senior housing.

There are three branches of the Food Shuttle in Amherst, North Buffalo and Ken-Ton and in the Southtowns.

Though not affiliated with St. Gregory, the group still meets there monthly to assign and coordinate drivers for the next month. Volunteers for all three branches number around 400.

"You don't have to be a driver to volunteer," Heine said. "You can be a coordinator or a dispatcher and call drivers to remind them of their shift or help if there are problems."

For drivers, each shift takes about an hour to an hour and a half, and drivers are not required to pick a route and stick with it, but can choose when they will volunteer.

"Most people work full time so they volunteer on the weekends," Heine said, noting that pickups and drop-offs happen every day of the week.

Heine noted that driving for the Food Shuttle is a good way for high school students to fulfill community service requirements and to perpetuate a sense of stewardship in churches.

"We average about 40,000 pounds of food a week," she said. "Wegmans is our biggest contributor."

While Wegmans contributes daily - mostly baked goods and produce - many other businesses around town donate only when they can. For those sporadic donors, there is a hotline to call for a pickup at 688-2527. More information is also available online at www.foodshuttlewny.org.

"Restaurants give us leftover food from banquets or dinners," Heine said. "We're on call when they have extra to donate."

Heine also said the nonprofit organization serves to supplement other organizations that have a mission of feeding the hungry of WNY as well as acting as a community educator.

"The group helps people be more aware of those in need," she said. "It's a very fulfilling experience."