Hearts Harvest Food Pantry
Hearts Harvest Food Pantry Hours:
Tuesdays 12pm to 4pm
Fridays 10am to 2pm
870 Tonawanda Street Buffalo, NY 14207
In October of 2021, Hearts Harvest Food Pantry moved from a warehouse setting to a newly renovated space that resembles a grocery store and provides dignity.
This building is adjacent to Hearts' long-standing ministry center which has been serving Riverside since 1997. The multi-use building is a great addition that creates a ministry campus that unites and serves the neighborhood.
This expansion enables us to reach deeper into the community and follow the directive in Isaiah 58:10, "give to the hungry and satisfy their needs..."
Client Choice Food Pantry
Hearts Harvest Food Pantry provides physical nourishment through groceries and other items; although, the pantry offers much more than just groceries. Through relationships, the ministry's staff and volunteers are able to make personal connections with our neighbors. The pantry is a living example of God's love for His people and hundreds of individuals and families are visiting this program of Hearts for the Homeless® each month. Just as with the Mobile Soup Kitchen, Hearts Harvest Food Pantry provides critical information about other services that are available in the area.
The food pantry offers a dignified program utilizing a “client choice” distribution method so individuals and families can choose the food that personally suits their needs once per month. Therefore, we offer more than non-perishable goods. With the help of FeedMore WNY’s Food Bank program, we offer the traditional items you may find at a local food pantry. Hearts Harvest Food Pantry also makes fresh foods available. We reach out to local farms, community gardens, as well as seek out food in bulk from local companies in order to bring these fresh items to the food pantry. These direct purchases are made possible through financial support from donors and our textile recycling program.
Hearts Community Center
This building will operate as a full-fledged community center used for outreach and education. The Hearts Cafe provides a flexible space that will serve Hearts and the Riverside community in so many ways. It will allow nutritionists and local chefs from around Buffalo to help families and individuals understand the value of meal planning and nutritional habits. Financial literacy is an important part of breaking the cycle of poverty and giving individuals a hand-up by sharing information. The space offers opportunities to expand on financial literacy through hands-on learning in the cafe through educational sessions on budgeting, banking, and financial responsibility with partners such as M&T Bank.
The building also includes a can and bottle redemption center where each can and bottle returned is worth 6 cents. This is yet another way to provide opportunities to the community as well as creating additional fundraising opportunities for Hearts.
The opportunities to use this community center are endless and we continue to discuss ideas for education and outreach including linkage to other service providers and Bible studies. If you want to partner with Hearts, please email us at [email protected]: we'd love to see if we can come alongside each other to support the BlackRock/Riverside community.
Get Involved
We would love to partner with you to support the community and we have several different ways you can help with the Hearts Harvest Food Pantry:
Food Drives
Host a food drive at your church or community group!
For a list of the items we are in need of, click here.
Volunteer
Become a Hearts Harvest Food Pantry volunteer by filling out an application here.
Make A Donation
Donate to Hearts for the Homeless here.
Sponsors
Hearts for the Homeless is honored to have so much support from the community.
Feedmore WNY's Food Bank program procures and distributes nutritious food to community members in Western New York. With available funding through the Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program (HPNAP), the Food Bank donated $19,017.50 in Seed Grant funds.
M & T Bank supplied Hearts with $15,000 in grant funds over the course of 3 years. M&T Bank’s Charitable Foundation works in partnership with local organizations to support healthy communities.
Frank's Basement Systems donated time and materials valued at over $14,000 to assist in the completion of this project. Their contribution will impact the community for years to come by providing clean and dry storage space for the food pantry.
The Chapel awarded Hearts with $10,000 of funds for the project. The Chapel’s mission is to ensure all members of the community have repeated opportunities to see and hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.
As the construction company to see the Hearts Harvest Pantry & Cafe through, Lamparelli Construction Company is an honorary sponsor. Lamparelli is experienced in building and renovation of restaurants, housing, retail stores, churches, distribution facilities, and more. They also have a hand in many community projects around Western New York.