FeedMore WNY Inc.
More Food. More Good.
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Food insecurity remains a relentless issue in our community. However, funds to meet the needs of food-insecure families continue to shrink. Individuals or families have relied on emergency food assistance to make ends meet for weeks, months, or even years because they do not have the skills, support network, or hope to find a job offering living wages in the WNY market. There is community demand for age-targeted programs (child feeding programs, senior feeding programs) as well as a more diverse and accessible means to deliver food to those working multiple minimum wage jobs (evening, weekend, and mobile distributions). FeedMore WNY, the merger of Meals on Wheels (MOW) and the Food Bank (FB), is the result of wanting to tackle these challenges. We are a critical food safety net for over 137,000 individuals each month and are meeting the needs of our existing clients while expanding to reach even more clients and tackle a root cause of hunger.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
BackPack Program
The BackPack Program assists students who rely on free and/or reduced price school meals with nutritious food each weekend throughout the year. The program provides these students with weekly backpacks filled with easily prepared, kid-friendly foods.
Senior Grocery Program
Seniors dining at congregate sites will be given 10 pounds bags of food (five pounds of fresh produce and five pounds of shelf-stable items) to get them through the weekend. If each of the congregate diners acquired an additional 10 pounds of food weekly in a senior-geared backpack, the incrementally increased food distributed to seniors would be approximately 640,000 pounds annually in Erie County alone.
Home-Delivered Meals Program
Home-delivered meals are designed to enhance the health and independence of homebound seniors and disabled individuals. This program is for seniors 60 and over who are unable to safely shop for or prepare meals themselves. It is also offered to individuals under 60 who are disabled.
School Pantry Program
The School Pantry Program provides high school and college students access to nutritious food that can be shared with others in their households. Participating schools host a food pantry within the school building and discretely allow students to “shop” the pantry for food.
Baby Needs Program
The Baby Needs Program meets the emergency needs of infants and young children by providing their caretakers with a supply of diapers, infant formula, and baby care products. These items are distributed through 33 emergency food providers that continually serve a high number of families with infants.
Mobile Pantry Program
Many of our member agencies do not have enough refrigerator and freezer space to store large amounts of produce and other perishable foods for an extended period of time. The Mobile Food Pantry Program delivers fresh, perishable food items such as fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy products directly to those in need throughout the organization’s service area.
Warehouse and Culinary Job Training Program
Job training programs address hunger by providing economically disadvantaged adults with the job skills they need to achieve self-sufficiency. FeedMore is creating two job training programs: warehouse and culinary. Students participate in a 12-week program, learning either warehouse or cooking skills. To help ensure student success we are partnering with other organizations to provide transportation, childcare, and uniforms free of charge to our students. Our programs combine job skills training with soft skills under the guidance of an on-site work advocate to help evaluate performance, address needed changes, and ensure successful completion of the program. Our graduates will be work-ready when they complete the program.
Congregate "Stay Fit" Dining Program
Seniors who are over 60 (or married to someone over 60) and mobile, are eligible to receive meals through Erie County’s “Stay Fit” dining program. The MOW program only does food production for this program; locations, times, and other program information can be found on Erie County’s website.
Good Cookin’ and Kids in the Kitchen
Good Cookin’ and Kids in the Kitchen are hands-on cooking and education programs in which children and adults learn about cooking and sound nutrition practices. Through these five-week courses, participants learn how their eating habits affect their health as they prepare simple, nutritious meals and snacks at no cost. Individuals may enroll through schools, youth groups, or through our member agencies. At the end of each class day, they will be provided with recipes and ingredients so they can recreate those meals at home. Through learning together, cooking together, and eating together, participants learn how to incorporate healthy habits into their lives.
Just Say Yes to Fruits and Vegetables (JSY)
Just Say Yes to Fruits and Vegetables is a New York State initiative dedicated to improving the health of SNAP-eligible populations by promoting the increased consumption of fruits and vegetables through nutrition education workshops and food demonstrations. JSY works to ensure participants choose more nutritious food, make the most of their food budgets and prepare foods in a safe manner. Each workshop provides practical nutrition information using recipes and cooking demonstrations that involve fresh produce. During the summer months, JSY nutritionists also held workshops in the organization’s Community Garden.
Where we work
Affiliations & memberships
Feeding America 1986
External reviews
Photos
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
FeedMore WNY is the result of the recent merger of Meals on Wheels for WNY (MOW) and the Food Bank of WNY. Both organizations share complementary missions and a long history of working together. A merger was not only the next logical step, but the best answer to make a greater community impact. The goal of FeedMore WNY lies in our name: to feed more Western New Yorkers of all ages for whom securing nutritious food is a challenge. Our organization has three pillars: a MOW program, a food bank program, and a workforce development program.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Hunger knows no age; therefore, FeedMore WNY has developed programs to meet the food needs of individuals of all ages. Through our programs and over 300 agencies, we feed over 136,000 individuals every month. Our feeding and food education programs include:
-Baby Needs Program
-BackPack Program
-School Pantry Program
-Senior Grocery Program
-Mobile Pantry Program
-Home-Delivered Meals Program
-Congregate Program
-Good Cookin' and Kids in the Kitchen
-Just Say Yes to Fruits and Vegetables
As the largest and most experienced hunger-relief organization provider and a critical safety net in Western New York, FeedMore WNY is developing programs that help attack the root causes of hunger, such as joblessness. Our warehouse and culinary job training programs are perfect for individuals who need to build critical job skills and confidence so that they can find stable work.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Founded in 1969 by serving 25 residents on the West Side of Buffalo, Meals on Wheels (MOW) is now the second-largest MOW program in the US. Founded in 1978, the Food Bank of WNY (FB) is the largest emergency food provider in WNY. FeedMore WNY is the result of two equals coming together.
In an era when mergers are uncommon and often do not receive Board approval, the MOW and FB Boards enthusiastically approved the merger and signed a joint operating agreement in February 2019. The merger received NYS Attorney General approval in January 2020. Initiatives include: building summer feeding, launching a senior grocery pantry, expanding home-delivered and congregate meals, leveraging an increased purchasing power and repack potential, creating culinary and warehouse job training programs, and enhancing the recruitment and retention of staff.
FeedMore WNY has been seven years in the making. MOW and the FB share complementary missions and a longstanding history of working together. A merger was not only the next logical step, but the best answer to make a greater community impact. Using a holistic approach to maximize our service to the community, FeedMore WNY will make sure that we are not only feeding people today but making sure that they can feed themselves tomorrow.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Expansion of Direct Delivery to Niagara County. In late 2018, FeedMore WNY expanded its Direct Delivery Program to Niagara County to better serve the county’s member agencies and distribute more food to people in need throughout the community. With our new delivery truck and expanded program, we can distribute products to our partner agencies’ doorsteps – at no cost to them. With the launch of the Direct Delivery Program in Niagara County, we now provide direct delivery services to all of our over 300 agencies in our four-county service area.
Expansion of BackPack Program. Our BackPack Program operates in 52 schools and continues to sustainably grow in Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, and Niagara Counties. In the summer of 2019, we launched our summer BackPack Program. We were able to reach 250 children at 8 sites. In summer 2020 we will expand to 20 sites and reach 1,000 children. This expansion has a detailed implementation plan; by summer 2024 we will reach 4,250 children at 75 sites.
Expansion of School Pantry Program. In 2019, we expanded our School Pantry Program. In addition to five local high schools, our program now includes three college campus pantries. To combat the growing issues of hunger on college campuses, we will continue to create partnerships with local colleges and open additional on-campus pantries.
Expansion of Home-Delivered Meal Program. In January 2020, we significantly expanded our Meals on Wheels Program by adding on home-delivered meal service to Niagara County. We will be reaching approximately 500 additional clients.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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FeedMore WNY Inc.
Board of directorsas of 06/24/2020
Mr. Jerry Sheldon
Richard Grimm
Magavern, Magavern & Grimm
Matt McAfee
M&T Bank
Eric Decker
Independent Health
Robert Romeo
Brock, Schechter & Polakoff LLP
Karen Merkel
National Fuel
David Smith
N/A
Michele Mehaffy
Wegmans
Nancy Blaschak
Health Foundation for Western & Central New York; Blaschak Consulting
Tim Boyle
NOCO
Carol DeNysschen
Buffalo State College
LaTonya Diggs
Value Network, IPA
John Eagleton
Steuben Trust
Dominic Eusanio
Price Waterhouse Coopers
Kristen Hanson
Tops
Lou Jacobs
Delaware North
Joshua Krebs
Citibank
Vinny Miranda
Lippes, Mattias, Wexler & Friedman
Ed Negron
Citizens Bank
Cliff Nelson
Jacob's Team
Jamel Perkins
Sodexo
Todd Pohlman
JH Dodman
Bob Rumpl
Trautman and Associates
Jeffrey Russo
Pine Hill Fresh Foods
Jeff Stevens
Rich Products
Tim Wangler
Wegmans
Lamont Williams
N/A
Barrie Yochum
Meals on Wheels of Jamestown
Mary Ellen Frandina
Evans Bank