A group of local women artisans encompassing the Buffalo Women’s Consortium (BWC) have been looking forward to selling their handmade gifts during summer festival season. But, during COVID-19, they came up with a new way to sell their gifts, in the form of their first ever Virtual Trunk Show, launching this Friday via Facebook Live. Altogether, 20 members of BWC will be participating, and each will be showcasing at least five of their handmade items. “We want to continue to support our members,” said Holly Metz Doyle, who cofounded BWC with Jennifer Stockman – the two recently opened a gallery…
Author: Vilona Trachtenberg
Kevin and Melissa Gardner, owners of Five Points Bakery, along with their four daughters, are taking strict safety precautions for servicing their customers, via their takeout window. The front of their bakery is 50 feet wide, complete with a glass door with three windows, which they use to spread out customers who purchase and receive food. Signs are also posted to ensure proper social distancing – there is also an ingenious pedal-operated bell, and an easy to read menu board and directional signs, creating a smoother operational flow. Having many elderly customers who are especially at risk for COVID-19, Five…
Queen City Escape Room has created a downloadable, digital escape room which players can solve on their own mysteries, or with a team via Zoom. The virtual escape room, called “Shadow Out of Time” is the first downloadable escape game of its kind, according to owner and gamemaster, Dominic Luongo. In this game, players attempt to outrun a mysterious “them” as they retrace the steps of a mad professor that mysteriously vanished, but not before writing cryptic journal entries about “having visions.” The puzzles are delivered in a series of websites, downloadable PDFs, and online videos, and there is no…
Buffalo Dream Center is a church located on the city’s West Side that has served the local community in many ways over the past 26 years, especially now during COVID-19 times. The church runs the Joseph Project Mobile Food Pantry, where volunteers pre-pack bags of food. before driving the goods to high-need neighborhoods. Now, Buffalo Dream Center has partnered with FeedMore NY and Feed the Children to service 30 different areas in Buffalo, equating to over 2,600 families that have received non-perishable and frozen meat donations during the pandemic. According to Eric Johns, one of the pastors at Buffalo Dream…
Compeer Buffalo is a nonprofit that promotes good mental health by pairing volunteer mentors with mentees to create friendships. According to Rob Kubiak, Compeer’s director of marketing and public relations, individuals who experience mental health challenges are “Compeer friends”. At this juncture, “friends” may be experiencing additional anxiety due to COVID-19, so even one phone call can make a big difference. Kubiak also says there are many potential mentees waiting for Compeer friendships, so there is a great need for volunteers—people who can listen to mentees while they share their struggles. Many mentees are already isolated, so having a volunteer call to…
Envision Wellness WNY, a local mental health counseling agency, is offering counseling services with waived copays via telephone or internet video conferencing during the COVID-19 pandemic. “This pandemic has caused trauma to many of us and trauma impacts everyone differently,” Tara Pace, LMHC, executive director of Envision Wellness WNY, said.“How individuals manage change and what new skills they gain is what counseling is about – how to gain resiliency.” According to Pace, counseling helps individuals identify tools to make their daily lives easier during COVID-19 times. For those with existing mental health symptoms, trauma can trigger old destructive patterns, and…
Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS), is a mentorship-based nonprofit that pairs “littles” ages 6-15 with “bigs” for friendship and positivity. Many of the children that BBBS serves come from single parent or low-income households and live in the City of Buffalo. “Kids need mentors now more than ever,” Thomas Guagliardo, CEO, said. “Having a mentor means someone to talk to, someone who is a guiding force, someone who is there to help defend the potential inherent in every child.” With the support and guidance of volunteer mentors, 98% of the children in the program maintained or showed improvement in their…
Buffalo Pug & Small Breed Rescue, Inc. is a local nonprofit rescue that accepts small breed dogs from abuse situations, surrenders and kill shelters. During COVID-19, this nonprofit has noticed an uptick in requests to foster dogs, and while they do always want more fosters, they want people to take into consideration the uncertainty of the time span of the coronavirus. “People may be returning to their jobs in weeks or months,” said Vanessa Gillette, vice president. “We would still need them to continue their commitment to the animal after they return to work.” Buffalo Pug does not have a…
Rock Autism, a music and arts nonprofit for youth with autism is partnering with Sweet Buffalo Rocks, an organization that paints rocks and leaves them in different locations to spread kindness during Autism Awareness Month. According to Alea Conte, executive director of Rock Autism, autism families are struggling in quarantine. Under normal circumstances, autism families feel isolated from the community, and the pandemic is making it worse. Rock Autism thought that if autism families go outside for walks and see rocks painted with puzzle pieces, it would make all the difference. “One Rock Autism painted rock can let [autism families]…
Katie Ann Grossi, local musician and small business owner, lost a family member due to COVID-19 last week. Knowing that many others are going through hard times, she realizes it’s her calling to help her community through music. Grossi currently teaches 25 virtual piano students per week and sees the benefits of teaching digitally. She noticed her students have improved focus to details and are more prepared for lessons since they have extra time to prepare. “Virtually maintaining our piano lessons helps to provide a sense of continuity with daily and weekly routines, motivating students’ efforts to develop and maintain…