If you're in need of groceries or household items during this COVID-19 crisis, you can head over to PUSH Buffalo on the city's West Side. They've created a mutual aid hub so that no one gets left behind during the pandemic.
"We're all in this together,” said Harper Bishop, PUSH Buffalo’s Movement Building deputy director.
PUSH Buffalo is stepping up to lend a hand to Western New Yorkers in these tough times.
"We need to work together through this moment and not turn a blind eye or be color blind,” Bishop said.
A mutual aid hub is now set up in PUSH Buffalo's gymnasium at its building at 429 Plymouth Avenue. The hub houses food and household items, many of which come in as donations. From 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, the community can head over to the West Side to pick up what they need. For those who can't physically make it out there, you can get items delivered to your home.
"Antibacterial hand sanitizer, some of those products people are not able to find in grocery stores and are really putting themselves at risk when they go out and find that they can't get those products anyway, we also have baby wipes and formula some of the products that we're hearing from people in need,” Bishop said.
PUSH says a majority of requests for help comes from the East Side, one of the hardest hit areas in the pandemic.
"I've heard a lot of people say COVID-19 doesn't discriminate, and that may be true about the virus, but the reaction and what comes after that, we need to make sure that there is equity in our response,” he said.
Bishop says now is the time to connect communities and show what Buffalo is made of.
"This is how we become the City of Good Neighbors and live up to our name," he said.
If you'd like to volunteer at the hub or provide donations, you can reach out to Bishop at harper@pushbuffalo.org.