Jerry Hustak Operations Manager Olean Food Pantry

Plan Aims to Feed Hungry for Next Decade, Solve Systemic Issues

OLEAN, NY (March 16, 2024) – Olean Food Pantry is announcing a $1 million fundraising campaign to stock its shelves for the next decade and address the root causes of hunger.

OFP has seen a 95.4% surge in clientele the past three years, pantry organizers said. It has served more than 40,000 people since January 2022. Consistently approaching or surpassing record numbers on weekly distribution days has prompted OFP to solve local hunger at its source.

The food pantry most recently served a record 155 families during a late-January distribution, said OFP Board President David Potter. Long lines of cars and people in the parking lot behind Bethany Lutheran Church, awaiting food, is a familiar sight for OFP volunteers. But serving so many is hardly a cause for celebration, Potter noted.

“We’d love to call it a victory, serving so many people so often. At Olean Food Pantry, we have distribution down to a science,” said Potter, who became Board President at OFP’s March 11 meeting. “But it does nothing to address why people are hungry in the first place. Community need has almost doubled in less than a half-decade.”

The fundraising campaign, managed by Olean consulting firm Grand River Agency, aims not only to sustain food distribution for the next 10 years, but also to confront the alarming rise of food insecurity in Allegany, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties.

Funds will be raised through a combination of major gifts, grants, and individual and corporate donations. To give, visit www.oleanfoodpantry.org/donate. Olean Food Pantry is celebrating 70 years of service to the greater Olean area.

While feeding those in need remains a priority, the overarching goal is to empower the Olean Food Pantry to tackle systemic issues through collaboration, advocacy and education. As numbers seeking food assistance continue to rise, the need for major systemic changes and community collaborations is just as important, Potter said.

“We need to be able to focus on those challenges without the immediate pressure of meeting the demand for food assistance,” he added. “Essentially, the ability to secure 10 years worth of food buys us 10 years of time to do the important work of addressing the core causes of hunger.”

Hunger hides in plain sight in our communities, said OFP manager Jerry Hustak. The picture of poverty and food insecurity – urban decay or third-world struggles – is not the typical OFP client experience.

Here in the Western New York counties Olean Food Pantry serves, the poverty rate hovers around 17%. The poorest areas of the pantry’s catchment have poverty rates more than 5% higher than state and federal averages. Roughly 40% of Americans are just one missed paycheck away from becoming food insecure.   

“It’s not just people stuck in the cycle of generational poverty who walk through our doors,” Hustak said. “We have people who just lost a job, people recovering from addictions or escaping abusive relationships with kids in tow. It’s not just people looking for free handouts. They’re real people with real struggles who just need a helping hand.”

Olean Food Pantry budgeted $84,000 for food purchases in 2024. Partnerships with FeedMore WNY, Canticle Farm and local grocers, as well as fresh produce grown on-site provide the bulk of OFP’s annual food stock. Assuming a 3% increase in food costs year-over-year, $1 million will be needed to ensure shelves are adequately stocked the next 10 years, said Nick Hamed, OFP Board Treasurer.

Cash donations allow OFP to purchase 66% more food than non-perishable donations alone, thanks to preferred nonprofit rates from suppliers.

“Local donations also help us keep local control of the funds and how they’re used,” Potter said. “Contract agreements with food distributors often dictate service models and restrict distributions to certain people. But your support allows us autonomy to tailor community-centric approaches.”

About Olean Food Pantry: Olean Food Pantry is celebrating 70 years of service to the greater Olean area. OFP began in 1954 when a small women’s group from Bethany Lutheran church started providing food to people referred to them by Social Services. In the 1970s and ’80s, these needs were handled on an on-call basis. In 1989, Bethany Food Pantry was reorganized under the Greater Olean Association of Churches, an ecumenical board was formed and the first OFP director was named. In August 2004, the Olean Food Pantry became Olean Food Pantry, Inc. and is now a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Through the generosity of the community and Bethany Lutheran Church, Olean Food Pantry, Inc. now resides at 8 Leo Moss Drive in a new building dedicated Sept. 15, 2007.