BUFFALO, N.Y. — St. Luke's Mission of Mercy has been helping people in our community for more than 29 years.
"As fast as they come in, they're leaving right out of here," explained St. Luke's missionary Charlene Mallory.
St. Luke's Mission of Mercy needs winter coats for all ages and all sizes.
"It's getting cold now, so we're looking for winter coats. Matter of fact, I just had a guy call, just got out of the hospital looking for a winter jacket," said Charlene Mallory.
The clothing room is open Tuesday nights and Wednesday mornings for people to pick out clothing. Now that it's cold out, the needs in our community have changed.
"Boots, coats, warm clothing, mittens, gloves are always in high demand for our community," said Michael Taheri with St. Luke's. "What's beautiful is when people drop stuff off, they stop. They interact with members of the community. Oftentimes, people who bring down things will then stick around and help put those things on the shelves, or they'll stock the food pantry a little bit. That's their opening. Maybe they come and become a volunteer and work in the kitchen."
St. Luke's provides two thousand meals a day and needs volunteers year-round.
"If we can get January, February, March are really, really challenging. One, the weather, it's cold, but we need volunteers. We need volunteers to help us in the mission mall, stock the shelves, help us prepare meals," said Michael Taheri.
They also need financial help. All of those meals cost more than a million dollars a year. And on top of that, they're preparing a thousand meals this Thanksgiving.
"Coming down to St. Luke's opens the eyes, and people start to say, hey, I could have a role. I have a gift for them, and this population has a gift for us, and it's a beautiful exchange. So I think when they visit, everybody benefits," said Michael Taheri.