Olean Food Pantry Fighting Food Insecurity

A Resource for Healthy Food in Our Communities

What We Do

The Olean Food Pantry is the largest food pantry in Cattaraugus County, both in the number of people we serve and in how much food we distribute. In 2025, we had 23,573 visits and gave out more than 127,000 days’ worth of food. Anyone in New York State who meets the income guidelines can shop with us. Our shoppers include working parents, seniors on fixed incomes, people with disabilities and people between jobs.

Our pantry is set up like a small grocery store. We don’t hand people a pre-packed box. Shoppers grab a cart and pick out the food their family will actually eat, with a volunteer there to help. Each person can take home six days of food per visit, twice a month. That’s more food per person than any other pantry in our area. Once a month, the FeedMore WNY Mobile Food Pantry truck comes to the pantry with extra fresh produce and groceries.

We also give out free diapers, pet food, Birthday Bags, and Thanksgiving dinners. Last year we gave out 650 Thanksgiving food packages!

Behind the pantry, our garden and greenhouse grow fresh vegetables and herbs for our shelves. Thanks to the greenhouse, they grow almost all year. Community members can also use garden space to grow their own food.

Mission & Vision

Our mission: As a volunteer-run organization, the Olean Food Pantry provides food security by offering choices of healthy, nutritious food. In cooperation with the community, we empower individuals through education, resources and knowledge to promote opportunities to become self-sufficient.

Our vision: A community without food insecurity.

The Olean Food Pantry is run entirely by volunteers. We have no paid staff. Every shift, from stocking shelves to keeping the books, is covered by people from our community who give their time.

History

Olean Food Pantry 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 70’s and 80’s these needs were handled on an on-call basis. In 1989, the Bethany Food Pantry was reorganized under the auspices of the Greater Olean Association of Churches, an ecumenical board was formed and the first OFP volunteer director was named. For the first time volunteers had the pantry open for regular hours! As the needs of the community grew so did the pantry which moved to several different locations including Central Baptist Church, Saint Stephen’s Episcopal Church, and 1010 Wayne street in the Empire Zone.

In August of 2004 The Olean Food Pantry became Olean Food Pantry Inc. and is now an independent 501(3)c tax exempt organization. Through the generosity of the community and Bethany Lutheran Church the Olean Food Pantry Inc. now resides at 8 Leo Moss Drive in a new building dedicated on September 15th 2007. In 2017, thanks to more generous supporters, we expanded the pantry to add a large warehouse area and to create a more spacious setup for our Shoppers’ Choice area.

Board Members

Kathleen Donovan - President

Kathleen is the Senior Social Media and Public Relations Coordinator for Cutco Corporation and joined the board in the summer of 2022. She also is a member of the YMCA of the Twin Tiers Association Board and graduated from Leadership Cattaraugus in 2010. Kathleen, who has always lived in Western New York, is happy to call Olean home.

Rich Esposito - Vice President

Rich has 30 years experience in technology consulting at Fortune 100 companies, driving ecommerce, data center cloud migrations, and digital commerce and marketing programs. He has a Masters and a Bachelors degree in Operations Research Engineering from Cornell University. Rich’s community interests involve those organizations that expand the capacity of the community to grow and develop through education, personal finance, and business growth.

Nick Hamed - Treasurer

Nick is a CPA who works at Buffamante Whipple Buttafaro, P.C. as a Tax Supervisor. He attended Fredonia State University where he graduated with a BS degree in Accounting and Finance. Nick went on to earn his MBA with a concentration in accounting at Saint Bonaventure University. When he’s not crunching numbers, you can find Nick trying to fix his slice, and spending time with friends and family.

Grace Butler - Secretary

Grace is an Accounting Support Specialist at Buffamante Whipple Buttafaro, P.C. Grace brings nearly 10 years of experience in the finance and insurance industry, including prior experience at Olean General Hospital, NILICO, Community Bank, and M & T Bank. Grace holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from State University of New York at Oswego.

Don Jones

Don is the Project Data Management Team Manager at Siemens Energy in Olean. He previously worked for 26 years for Dresser Rand, including roles as the SWAT Leader for Engineering, Supervisor for the BOM Planning Group, and as a Technical Illustrator. Don has served on the board of Cattaraugus Community Action and the United Way of Cattaraugus County.

Jay King

Jay is the CEO of King 6 Enterprises. His career also includes high-level leadership roles such as Vice President of Sales Operations at Siemens Energy and Dresser-Rand Company, where he spearheaded global digital transformations, supply chain strategies, and cross-functional team alignment. He holds a BS in Engineering/Management from Clarkson University and an MBA from Saint Joseph’s University. Jay is actively dedicated to community leadership, serving for nearly 15 years as a school board member for Allegany Limestone Central School District. Jay joined the Olean Food Pantry board in December 2024.

Betsy Bathurst

Betsy joined the Olean Food Pantry board in 2023. She is a graduate of St. Bonaventure University, with over 25 years of working with non-profits. Employed by Cutco Corporation, Betsy resides in Olean and is the proud mother of two sons, Wil and Kamdyn.

Skip Wilday

Skip has over 40 years of experience as a financial advisor and Executive Director for Morgan Stanley’s Olean Office. He is a Member of Morgan Stanley’s President and Chairman’s Council. Skip is a Chartered Retirement Plans Specialist℠ and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Muskingum College. He is active on many community boards, including the Gow School, Jamestown Community College, Cuba Lake Yacht Club, and Cattaraugus Region Community Foundation

Jared Parks

Jared is a Lead Pastor at Mt. Zion Christian Assembly. Together with his wife, Jessica, he served in Florida and Texas before returning to his hometown to lead Mt. Zion. He has three sons.

Oscar Gaines

Oscar has worked for Cutco in Olean for more than 30 years, most recently serving as Planning Supervisor assisting with production planning, inventory, and business units. Oscar was trained as an accountant and brings that financial expertise to the OFP board and as a member of the board of directors of the SUNY Jamestown Community College Foundation.

Jamie Kohn

Bio coming soon

Key Volunteers

Jerry Hustak, Operations Manager

Jerry keeps OFP running like clockwork. In 1987, Jerry accepted a job offer from Dresser-Rand and relocated to Olean with his wife, Faith. He graduated from Leadership Cattaraugus in 2015, where he found out about volunteer opportunities at the Olean Food Pantry. In 2017, after 34 years of service with Dresser-Rand, he retired and became the Operations Manager of the Olean Food Pantry. Currently he is a member of the YMCA Facilities Committee and the Leadership Team for Christ United Methodist Church. He graduated from Penn State with a Mechanical Engineering Degree.

Courtney Callahan, Warehouse Manager

Courtney has been an incredible powerhouse at the pantry since she joined in 2018. On any given day, you’ll find her driving all over town to pick up donations, checking current inventory, providing guidance to volunteers, and assisting with food safety procedures. When she is not at OFP, you’ll find her working as a Cafeteria Team Member at the Allegany-Limestone Central School District. Courtney previously spent 10 years as a Human Resources Assistant at St. Bonaventure University and 10 years managing Electric Beach Tanning Salon. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Management from Houghton University.

Don Meyer, Database Manager

Don came to the Olean Food Pantry from Dresser-Rand, a Siemens Business. He retired in 2020 after 43 years with the company. He holds two degrees (Mechanical Engineering and Information Technology) and provides his expertise to the programming and Information Technology needs of the Olean Food Pantry. He currently works in the Safety/Security office at Holiday Valley during the ski season. He graduated in the 2013 class of Leadership Cattaraugus. Don lives in Great Valley with his wife, Theresa, and their two dogs.

Our Partners

Bethany Lutheran Church is our neighbor and founding partner. The pantry started in 1954 when a women’s group from Bethany Lutheran Church began distributing food to individuals referred by Social Services, eventually expanding into an independent nonprofit organization. Today, the church graciously allows us to host our monthly pet food pantry in their building so we can follow food safety requirements.

FeedMore WNY is our regional food bank. Most of the food on our shelves comes through FeedMore at a deep discount, thanks to food donated by large wholesalers and to government grants. FeedMore also runs the Mobile Food Pantry truck that visits us each month. Visit FeedMore WNY.

Canticle Farm is a nonprofit farm in Allegany. It sends us its extra fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs, which go straight onto our produce shelves. Thanks to Canticle Farm, our shoppers can take home fresh, locally grown food. Visit Canticle Farm.

Every Bottom Covered provides the free diapers we give to families with young children.

Local growers and grocers including BJs, Walmart, Tops, Jim’s Park and Shop, and the Olean Food Barn donate extra food and produce that would otherwise go to waste.