SALAMANCA, N.Y. — In Salamanca, one’s trash is another’s supper.
For Chuck Giambrone and almost 10,000 others who visited the food pantry and distribution center at Connecting Communities in Action this year, it’s been their lifeline.
“I would starve to death if I didn’t come here,” Giambrone said.
In the aftermath of the Tops shooting in Buffalo, the headlines were clear, as focus began to shift toward addressing the food desert that existed on the city’s East Side, especially while the grocery store was closed.
More recently, urban food deserts have been highlighted in Western New York when politicians like Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown began calling for funding to keep Braymiller Market, downtown’s only grocery store, afloat.
But down south in rural counties like Cattaraugus and Chautauqua where people like Giambrone live, the food desert issue is often overlooked.
Director of Resilient and Healthy Families at CCA, Corrie Phetteplace, has seen that firsthand.
“There are some communities that don’t even have gas stations or grocery stores,” Phetteplace said.
But with the help of FeedMore Western New York as a distributor, she and her colleagues at CCA have served over 2,000 households this year — both hot meals and bags of canned, non-perishable goods.
“They couldn’t live without it,” Phetteplace said. “It’s vital for a lot of our families.”
For a significant number of residents in Salamanca, a trip to the nearest grocery store is as far as a trip from downtown Buffalo to Highmark Stadium — roughly 10 miles — deeming the city a rural food desert. The same tag is applied to urban areas one mile from the nearest grocery store.
According to the United States Census, the median household income is just $36,047 in Salamanca, putting over a quarter of the population below the poverty line and forcing them to make difficult decisions.
"Am I going to buy Christmas presents for my kids, or do I have to put my resources toward buying food?” Phetteplace said.
FeedMore WNY is aiming to eliminate that scenario for families in the Southern Tier as a part of a greater mission to expand the organization’s reach outside of urban areas. Last year, 80% of the population FeedMore WNY served was in Erie County.
“A lot of those times, rural areas like Salamanca and Olean aren’t always remembered or thought of in that way,” said Cait Evans with FeedMore WNY. “We really want to make sure that it’s understood that FeedMore Western New York is there to service all of Western New York.”
They’ve done so by making sure food banks like CCA have all the supplies and products they need.
For people like Giambrone, that service doesn’t go unnoticed and provides them peace of mind this holiday season, knowing their lifeline will always be there.
“I think everybody should have a home and a safe place to go to eat and be happy,” Giambrone said.