A record 250 associates from Delaware North’s Buffalo-area operations came together on Wednesday for the United Way Day of Caring, volunteering with seven nonprofit organizations across Western New York.
It was the largest group to take part in the 20 years that Delaware North has participated in the event, and the first time that all of the company’s Buffalo-area offices and operating locations – including its global headquarters, Amherst Campus, New Era Field, KeyBank Center, Buffalo Niagara International Airport, Hamburg Gaming, The Westin Buffalo, Patina 250, Niagara Falls State Park and the Travel Plazas – were represented among the volunteers. Delaware North’s culinary team at KeyBank Center also donated and served breakfast and lunch to each of the day’s 3,200 volunteers.
“The Day of Caring is an opportunity to come together as a community – both the Western New York community, and our community as Delaware North associates,” said Delaware North Co-CEO Jerry Jacobs Jr. “It’s a day that each of us can feel proud to be making a difference in our hometown.”
Volunteers tackled a variety of tasks at the organizations where they served:
- FeedMore WNY acts as a bridge between available food and member agencies throughout Western New York, which, in turn, give food to the community’s hungry neighbors. Delaware North’s volunteers sorted food, worked in the community garden and made cards for the agency’s homebound clients.
- Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper protects and restores the region’s water and surrounding ecosystems. Volunteers helped to clean the Scajaquada Creek shoreline to prevent litter from further polluting the waterway.
- Valley Community Association is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for residents of the Buffalo River Community by meeting individual and family needs and promoting environmental beautification. Volunteers spread out over several different sites performing maintenance work like landscaping, washing windows and walls, weeding, landscaping and cleaning.
- The Buffalo & Erie County Botanical Gardens Society’s mission is to inspire curiosity and connect people to the natural world through its historic living museum. Volunteers performed tasks such as mulching, planting and weeding.
- The Buffalo City Mission provides emergency shelter and nourishing meals to thousands of homeless men, women and children in the Western New York community. One group of volunteers helped to organize, clean rooms and wash windows at Cornerstone Manor (a facility providing food and shelter to women and moms with children), and another group sorted, organized and hung donations at the City Mission Thrift Shop.
- Compass House provides safe shelter and services to runaway and homeless youth
and teens in Buffalo. Volunteers prepared and packed lunches for residents.
“These organizations provide essential services to the most vulnerable members of our community,” said Delaware North Co-CEO Lou Jacobs. “Our participation in the Day of Caring signifies that being an engaged, committed member of the communities where we operate – both in our hometown and around the world – is important to Delaware North.”