Please help us feed Buffalo.

Unless you are in our city, you don’t know how crucial that Tops grocery store was to residents of the Masten District. If you’ve never donated before, please do so today. ~ Dianna Hobbs, CEO

Dianna Hobbs, founder of Buffalo, NY based 501c3 nonprofit, Empowering Everyday Women, who was raised on Buffalo’s East side, knows all too well the burden of poverty and hunger. Growing up, the charitable CEO’s family benefited from the good-natured folks at Food Banks that provided food to needy families like hers.

Hobbs, 45, told reporters she is “gutted by this horrific tragedy” and personally knew Pearl Young, 77—a local missionary who was fatally shot who had fed the hungry for years. Now the award-winning Empowering Everyday Women founder whose family received the “Family of the Year” award from the city’s mayor, is focused on doing more than standing on the sidelines offering thoughts and prayers.

“This moment requires action,” said Hobbs. “My team and I are intent on doing whatever it takes to make sure Buffalo’s inner city doesn’t go hungry.”

The missionary and philanthropist, who serves with her husband Kenya Hobbs, pastor of City Church Buffalo, is no stranger to charitable causes. The two have long helped the city’s homeless and underserved population by launching clothing and food drives, offering free tutoring, and providing free school supplies.

With the launch of the “Feed Buffalo Campaign,” the local nonprofit team is putting forth a focused effort to fight hunger in Buffalo’s inner city—an already struggling food desert made worse by a targeted hate crime.

“Buffalo is where we live and work, and our city is hurting,” said Myesha Campbell, 29, a resident of Buffalo, NY. “We need that grocery store. My grandmother and I both shop there, and it’s the only one accessible within walking distance of her home.”

While Tops is temporarily closed during the investigation, Hobbs and her team are working to make sure residents don’t go without.

“For years, we have been fighting hunger, an epidemic that has grown far worse since the pandemic. This latest massacre and act of terrorism in our city has further hurt people already in need,” she said.

Tops Friendly Market, a community hub on Jefferson, on Buffalo’s East Side, is the only grocery store in this Black neighborhood. Now, being that it is closed, if or when it reopens, residents may be afraid to shop at the place they was once viewed as safe and reliable.

Before Tops opened on the East Side in 2003, residents had to travel to other communities to buy nutritious food or settle for snacks and higher-priced staples like milk and eggs from corner stores and gas stations.

The fact that there are no other options lays bare the racial and economic divide.

The team at Empowering Everyday Women is appealing to its supporters to help them feed Buffalo healthy, nutritious foods by making a tax-deductible donation of any size.

After decades of neglect and decline, only a handful of stores are along Jefferson Avenue, the East Side’s once-thriving main drag, among them a Family Dollar, a deli, a liquor store and a couple of convenience stores.

No store is within walking distance—an obstacle for many that don’t have transportation— and it takes three different buses to get to the Price Rite.

But you have the power to make a difference. Please give today.