“Anything less than ownership is unacceptable.”

A motto the African Heritage CO-OP lives on and what founder Alex Wright believes is vital to creating change.

 “They say if you give a person a fish, you feed them for a day. You teach them how to fish, they can feed themselves. We aren't asking for either,” Wright said. “We are asking for a pole. We just need the tools that we need to be successful."

This produce market has grown over the last four years, working to provide access to produce in a food desert. But now it’s ready to move into a new space, one donated to them on Carlton Street.

"We love the Carlton location because it's right in the neighborhood,” Wright said. “Where it is currently is great for warehousing and access to the farmers, but we wanted to be in the community and this allows us to be within walking distance to the people who need us the most."

But it still needs a lot of work. Preservation Buffalo Niagara granted them $50,000 to start the facelift, but they need $500,000 to completely makeover the building so it can open for business.

That’s where they’re asking the community to work with them.

They are asking people to help them with a donation of labor and time or a monetary donation.

They are also collecting donations so they can help provide sides for Thanksgiving meals to families. 

To make a monetary donation, people can use the cash app and designate the money to: $AHFC, or use PayPal and put in AHFCFinance @gmail.com as the recipient address. Checks can be mailed to 1430 Clinton Street, Garage 98 Buffalo, NY, 14206.