Free food distribution to people in need is easy in theory. It’s something we’ve done here at Olean Food Pantry for over 70 years. But the mission has evolved out of necessity through the decades to meet community needs.  Looking to the future of fighting food insecurity, local food pantries like ours must embrace advancements […]

Merely meeting the daily hunger needs in our impoverished communities isn’t enough. As frontline leaders in the War on Hunger, we’re invested in building a sustainable local food pantry to work toward a hunger-free future. At Olean Food Pantry, we’ve learned that true hunger relief is about tomorrow, too. It’s about asking: How do we […]

In a world of abundance, the global impact of food insecurity is a painful paradox. From rural Western New York to communities around the world, hunger continues to impact many millions — billions even. We see this not just in statistics, but in stories of struggle, survival and resilience. Here in the Olean, NY area, […]

Food insecurity is one of the most urgent — yet often overlooked — challenges facing Western New York. At Olean Food Pantry, we see the impact firsthand every day: the tired eyes of parents skipping meals for their kids, the quiet dignity of seniors trying to stretch a fixed income, and the exhausted workers who […]