July 2021 Newsletter
On Our Hearts
“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.”
2 Corinthians 9:8
As the summer season is underway at Hearts, and the heat is high, we’d like to give a big shout out to all of you who have given provisions for our outreach programs.
To mention a few:
Because of you, the homeless and poor are keeping hydrated with ice cold water. We will continue to provide personal sized bottled water as an additional beverage with their meal all summer long until all the water is gone. So, keep the water coming.
Thanks to a business donor and transport by Cathy, a friend of Hearts, we were able to surprise those standing in our feeding lines with an extra take away on 4 separate occasions, an All-American grilled hot dog, with a side of macaroni salad, and chips. The crowd was excited and quite happy to receive this in addition to the regular meal.
We were blessed by a new donor and volunteer partnership this season — Independent Health YMCA took on and carried out 2 drives and are sending volunteer teams to help us at 2 summer outreach events. Our friends on the street love baseball caps and we are told that members and clients of Independent Health YMCA filled 2 overflowing barrels of caps waiting to be delivered; the other drive is for water. Hearts is so grateful for this partnership. We are sure this is only the beginning of a longtime relationship.
You may have seen on the news about how Frank’s Basement Systems really came all out to assist Hearts in finishing up the basement of the building that will soon be the home of our food pantry. During a pandemic when many businesses were suffering, Frank’s came to our aid by donating their time and materials to assist in the completion of Hearts Harvest Food Pantry, which is located across our parking lot at 870 Tonawanda Street.
https://heartsforthehomeless.org/hearts-harvest-food-pantry-partners-with-franks-basement-systems/
“After over 2 years of rehabilitating the building, this project puts us one step closer to moving into the permanent location for Hearts Harvest Food Pantry. We are extremely grateful that Frank’s Basement Systems and their employees share our commitment to serving our neighbors. The donation of new drain tile, a sump pump and clean space walls will impact the community for years to come by providing clean and dry storage space for the food pantry,” said Nick Calandra, CEO and President at Hearts for the Homeless.
As we continue to share these stories about the goodness and generosity of the people throughout Western New York who are rallying around us, we hope it encourages you as much as it encourages us. All of this support inspires and emboldens us to continue on with Hearts’ mission, as well as seek out other ways to help and serve the poor and homeless throughout Buffalo.
Clothing Donations
We are so grateful for all of your donations. We also have a bin onsite at our outreach center at 890 Tonawanda Street; you can find the bins located in your area by going to our website at www.heartsforthehomeless.org, click on Bin Finder, put in your zip code and those in your area will appear.
Hearts Thrift Shop News
As Buffalo continues to open up, the thrift store staff has seen many new faces. A young mom came into the thrift store for the first time. She had just moved into the neighborhood and was excited we were here. She has 3 young children and told the cashier what a blessing for her to be able to purchase such good quality clothing and shoes for her family. The customer asked what the barrel on the counter was and the cashier told her it was a prayer barrel then explained that Hearts prays for our customers and asked if she would like to write down a request. The customer wrote down a request for her marriage. The cashier had the opportunity to pray with her right there on the spot.
This is another way Hearts is able to provide support to those in the neighborhood!
Lives Touched Last Month
“Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter”
~Isaiah 58:7
June 2021
Total Clients Served: 1,424
Homeless: 1,234
Male: 1,309
Female: 105
Seniors: 3
Children: 7
Meal Bags for Buffalo Dream Center Outreach: 400
Talk from the Street and Heart
As the threat of COVID weakens, the agencies that have been providing COVID shelter to the homeless are closing their doors for now. Hearts was able to send meals to these shelters during the pandemic to provide food for their homeless guests; but as they close, we expect the numbers in our feeding lines, at the downtown library, will begin to increase. We are happy that our friends stayed safe during the pandemic. As they return to our lines again, we will be there for them and all of those who continually use Heart Mobile Soup Kitchen as a food resource.
Thank you to the donor for the donation of hot dogs and buns; everyone in line loved the change and summer fun; we were also able to send the hot dogs to Holy Cross Homeless shelter along with baked beans and chips prior to them closing their doors.
Hearts was invited to partner with the nonprofit organization, West Side Promise Neighborhood, while they were carrying-out a Summer Lunch Program for the Buffalo City Schools. We were able to introduce our food pantry and provide information to the parents about how they can use it as a food resource. We sent them home with taco bowl meals to-go for the whole family, along with stuffed animals, books, activity books for the kids, and leather-like carry bags for the parents. What a wonderful time it was to reach some of the families that didn’t know we existed, who live in our local community in Riverside.
Hearts Harvest Food Pantry
| Households | Infants | Toddlers | Children | Adults | Seniors | Individuals |
| 464 | 39 | 81 | 438 | 845 | 76 | 1,479 |
| Households | Infants | Toddlers | Children | Adults | Seniors | Individuals |
| 82 | 4 | 10 | 79 | 135 | 35 | 263 |
CHANGE OF DAY/LOCATION/TIME: Starting July 28th, Hearts Mobile Food Pantry will be held every 4th Wednesday of the month at Hearts Outreach Center at 890 Tonawanda St., Riverside, from 1pm to 3pm (sign-in at 12:30pm). Families in our community can come as often as we have them as a supplement to our onsite food pantry.
