BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Thursday a community barbecue is helping support the Jefferson Avenue neighborhood, still coping with the effects of the mass shooting, nearly two months later.
Mark Talley lost his mother Geraldine in the May 14 shooting. Leonard Lane from Buffalo F.A.T.H.E.R.S. joined him to put on the barbecue.
They said the Jefferson Avenue neighborhood is still a food desert as they wait for Tops to reopen.
“People need help over here. Once again, with Tops being closed, people still need their food, people still need to eat, people still need produce, people still need fruits, people still need water,” Talley said. “And you know the people here don’t want to have to take a shuttle bus miles away, to go to another grocery store, take a shuttle from there to come back here, and walk back home. I mean a lot of elderly patients stay in this neighborhood.”
Mark Talley told us he’s starting a school supply drive to collect folders, pencils and other classroom items for 1,000 students.