'Not a lot of grocery stores:' KeyBank helping fight East Side food insecurity

KeyBank announced a $450,000 investment from the KeyBank Foundation will help two organizations fight food insecurity on Buffalo's East Side.

$300,000 of the investment will go to Buffalo Go Green to help support its Holistic Wellness & Agricultural Education Campus. The remaining $150,000 will go to the Independent Health Foundation’s “Healthy Options at Home” Program.

The investment was announced on Thursday night at the start of the third season of the KeyBank Delavan-Grider Farmers Market.

The market is held every Thursday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Delavan-Grider Community Center.

WKBW

The community spoke about the importance of the market.

“There's not a lot of grocery stores where a lot of people can get this kind of produce and stuff and it’s really well needed and it’s really fresh and it looks really good,” says Nadine Faulkner, a Buffalo resident.

“It’s not okay that they don’t have an alternative so that was part of the reason why we decided to put together a farmers market and strategically place it here,” says Chiwuike Owunwanne, a corporate responsibility officer at KeyBank. “Because you know this is a pretty dense neighborhood and we have the Delavan Grider Community Center.”

WKBW

WKBW

“There's so much work that needs to be done, but it’s so exciting we work on our mission daily,” says Allison Dehonney, executive director of Buffalo Go Green. “Right next to our indoor commercial kitchen will be our hydroponic farm, 5,000 square feet, and we’ll be able to harvest more farm and take it right to our commercial kitchen, mobile market, and markets like Delavan Grider.”

Councilwoman Zeneta Everhart says her district needs more organizations like Buffalo Go Green.

“I'm still jumping and making sure I'm having those conversations about another grocery store, two or three or more grocery stores on the East Side of Buffalo,” Councilwoman Everhart says. “I'm continuously having those conversations and I'm actually having those conversations with grocers outside of Buffalo.”

Until then, you can come to the Delavan-Grider Community Center and get your $10 voucher for your fruits and veggies.

“You’re going to live a lot longer being healthy so hey,” says Isaac Burns, a Buffalo Resident. “It’s a nice thing that you know we have this in the neighborhood.”