From farm to food pantry: Provisions 139 feeds the West Side

But what sets Provisions 139 apart is where that local protein and produce comes from: local farms. This is neighbors feeding neighbors.

The pantry at 44 Breckenridge St. is operated by West Side Community Services, across the parking lot from Twin Petrels and Daddy’s Plants in the old Resurgence Brewing building on Niagara Street. Just as the pantry moved into this bright new space in summer 2023 from its former home at 139 Vermont St., the organization was awarded new funding that would allow it to buy food directly from local farms.

The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets grant requires that funds be spent on New York State goods, so pantry manager Daniel Genco quickly developed a system to source, pick up and distribute fresh foods whose quantity and variety changes seasonally.

Farm partners include Providence Farm Collective (which had donated produce before grant funds could pay for it), Plato Dale Farm, Thorpe's Organic Family Farm, J.C. Heitman Farm, Cornerstone Orchards, Herb’n Garden Farms and WestSide Tilth Farm.

“Almost 100% of the produce we offer is locally grown, and most of the eggs and meat are raised in Western New York, too,” says Mary Schaefer, director of operations at West Side Community Services. “We’re feeding people the freshest food available and putting money into the local farm economy.”

To round out visitors’ grocery baskets, bread comes from Friends of Night People, where the pantry originally began in 2021; FONP passed the baton to WSCS when it needed more dining room space for its hot meal program. FeedMore WNY supplies the non-perishable groceries.

The pantry is open to people who live in zip codes 14201, 14209, 14213 and 14222, and who meet certain household income thresholds (though no proof is required). Visitors can “shop” twice a month—once during the first two weeks and again in the second half of the month.

The goods are organized by nutritional type, allowing visitors to select which items fit their families’ cultural and dietary preferences. All signage is also posted in six languages, and volunteers staff the pantry to help fill grocery baskets.

Provisions 139 also serves as the West Side Diaper Bank location for Every Bottom Covered, a Buffalo-born diaper security organization, and as a distribution point for WNY Food 4 Paws and the SPCA Serving Erie County, which stocks a shelf with dry dog and cat food. Whenever possible, the pantry tries to offer other essentials like cooking oil, hygiene supplies, cleaning products and Covid tests.

Donations, corporate connections, volunteers and word-of-mouth ambassadors are always welcome.

For more information, visit wscsbuffalo.org/programs/provisions-139.