Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Senator Kirsten Gillibrand was in Buffalo Monday to address the serious concern of food insecurities for Buffalo's East Side by advocating for an extension of child nutrition waivers.
There's also much more that government can do, which is why I'm pushing very hard by a letter to the administration to create an extension for the child nutrition waivers, which is basically to give more money for food, expand the community eligibility, make sure more families are eligible for the food and create a summer wide EBT program which will help us during the summer months when kids can't get access to any food," said Senator Gillibrand.
Since 2020, the child nutrition waivers have provided waivers nationwide through the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. These waivers have allowed school nutrition programs, local government agencies, and nonprofit organizations to keep feeding children in the face of numerous challenges.
If Congress doesn't extend the waivers, they will expire on June 30th, 2022, the end of this month.
"Families here in Erie County are particularly challenged when it comes to food insecurity. More than 10% of Erie County residents were food insecure and in 2019, that translates to about 100,000 people who struggled to put fresh nutritious foods on the table for their loved ones. Children are often the hardest hit with food insecurity and the summer months are about to start. Without the school lunch program, without school breakfast, without snacks, a lot of these kids go hungry all summer long, because they don't have those resources at their school," said the Senator.
The Resource Council of WNY partnered with Feedmore WNY has provided the community with numerous resources and food donations to the community. These resources continue to operate Monday, Wednesday and Friday through July 8th.
"Because the East Side of Buffalo is a food desert, we are in particular need for these types of services for agencies as FeedMore Western New York continues to step in and stand in the gap for Tops to ensure that we are still receiving fresh produce and food with nutritional value, as well as ensuring that all of our constituents are still able to get from this side of the city to the other side of the city, where the Tops are so they can have their prescriptions filled," said Buffalo Common Councilman of the Madsen District, Ulysees Wingo.
"FeedMore is also encouraging anyone who may be in need of food assistance to access any of our partner food pantries and dining sites, 11 of which are within three quarters of a mile of the Tops on Jefferson Avenue and these agencies can be found on our website, as well as other information for our homebound neighbors in need or Meals on Wheels services by visiting FeedMoreWNY.org or calling us at 716-822-2002," said Feedmore WNY's Catherine Shick.
Senator Gillibrand believes that we should have more than one supermarket in the Jefferson Avenue area for people to get their groceries and while we have a couple of options available, like the Broadway Market, which will receive renovations in the new state budget, Gillibrand says she will call grocery store chains to inquire about businesses coming to Buffalo.
"I think we should be calling on all the different supermarket chains to consider putting a new supermarket in our community and I will do that. I will make calls to all those supermarket chains and see if we can get one more to come here," said Senator Gillibrand.
In terms of economic development for the community, Gillibrand is ready to provide to those who apply for the resources.
"We give a lot of resources for economic development and those resources can be applied for by the Mayor, by the Governor, by local entities that want to create job creation, create job training, create economic growth and so our office stands ready to work with any group that wants to apply for that those resources," said the Senator.
"There's job training programs to build back the infrastructure. That needs to be locally driven. There's a program to create new healthcare workers to help those who have been at the forefront of this pandemic for two and a half years and really need relief and that can be applied for and that's a program I wrote into the one of the COVID Relief bills. There's a lot of money, you just have to apply for it and you need a entity that's willing to invest to make the programs work and to make sure it reaches the right people and we're happy to do that."
The Senator says that in the letter she is drafting asking to extend the waivers, she has over 2,000 signatures and will continue to gather more by the end of the week.
To listen to the full conference, see the player below:
