BUFFALO, N.Y. — Food insecurity has been a big topic in Buffalo, and at least one group has been addressing it for more than 30 years.
2 On Your Side caught up with the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Avenue Project on Friday afternoon to talk about this spring's programs and how they will help more people in Western New York live healthier lives.
"We're really trying with our partners to build food sovereignty in the City of Buffalo, which basically means making sure everyone has access to good food," said Diane Picard, the executive director of the Massachusetts Avenue Project, also known as MAP.
Diane Picard leads MAP. For decades, MAP has made it its mission to get healthy food to people.
"Making sure people can grow their own food if they want to and have some control over their food system," Picard said.
They also help entrepreneurs learn the ropes of the food industry.
"Next week we are partnering with Cornell Cooperative Extension and Taste New York to do a training for food entrepreneurs around safely packing value-added products for the Taste New York program," Picard said.
And on May 4, they have their seedling sale where you can buy seedlings to grow your own food.
"It's a free event for the community. You can get seedlings for your garden, but we also have a number of partners joining us this year. We will have Native Soul, who is going to have native seedlings. Grassroots Gardens will be here," Picard said.
The markets, where you can buy healthy, local fresh food are also going strong.
"We do currently run two markets. One here at MAP every Thursday from 3 to 6, and then one at Buffalo Adult Education, which is starting up next week on Wednesdays, and then our regular market season will start in June, and we'll have 13 different market sites across the city where we're providing fresh, affordable food to people," Picard said.
And, providing the knowledge if you want to grow it yourself.
"If somebody just can do a few container pots on their porch, that's great. You can grow a lot of food in just containers or in a small yard, so we really encourage people to do that," Picard said.
You don't even have to wait until May for the seedling sale to check out what MAP is doing, there are events there throughout the month of March.