BUFFALO, N.Y. — Anna Benzin of Buffalo and her husband have three children, ages nine, five and three, as well as a few cats and a dog.
Anna says she has pretty much been a stay at home mom from the start, but also did some customer service work from home to help keep the cupboards full. That is until COVID.
"Once the pandemic started, it started to get really tough," Anna said.
With her husband's income not quite enough, Anna recently took a job with a cleaning company, and now works an after-hours shift opposite of her husband because of the kids.
"Just because of the pandemic, I think that's been the most challenging thing. Being stuck in the house," Anna said.
To get out of the house, Anna packs up her son and heads out to pick up her groceries for Thanksgiving dinner at the Bishop Edward Kmiec Food Pantry and Outreach in Buffalo, operated by Catholic Charities.
She says she learned about it from her neighbor, and goes once a week, as she qualifies under the center's income guidelines.
"Extremely helpful,” she said. “There's been times where, you know, we've kind of been struggling a little bit to, you know, make ends meet. It's just something that helps out when we do have, you know, extra bills that we have to pay and wondering, you know, how are we going to feed five people."
Inside the pantry, staff members have been busy organizing boxes of holiday and supplemental items for families like Anna's coping with food insecurity.
"Just to see her smiling and her youngsters excited makes me feel really good about it," Darlene Sery, Bishop Kmiec Food Pantry coordinator, said.
The food pantry has teamed up with FeedMore Western New York and is thankful for the generous community donations that allow staff to make the holidays a little fuller for families in need.
"It's rewarding because you want to go home knowing you did a good job,” Darlene said. “For me, it's like I'm doing my job to make sure our clients are fed."
Because of COVID, delivery is once again curbside, as staff members check the clients in, as pantry crews pack each car with the holiday staples and a few other treats for those like Anna and her family.
Given from people, Anna says, are also like family, and is extremely grateful for the help.
"It definitely helps out because the money that we would be spending on a Thanksgiving meal, we can actually put aside for some gifts for the kids,” Anna said.
From the food pantry, Anna heads back home to unload the boxes, restock her shelves and put the turkey in the freezer, until the big day, but forever thankful.