Latest news with #LockportPostOffice
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Reverse delivery: Letter carriers' food drive slated Saturday
The Lockport Post Office is prepared to deliver its part in the nationwide Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive on Saturday. Postal customers in ZIP Code 14094 received their reminder in Wednesday's mail: Fill a bag with healthy, non-perishable food items and place it near your mailbox early Saturday. Your letter carrier will do the rest. The annual food drive, undertaken by the National Association of Letter Carriers since 1993, directly aids food banks and food pantries throughout the country. According to rural letter carrier Dave McAninch, the longtime coordinator of the drive at the Lockport Post Office, its haul is delivered to the Salvation Army in Lockport, which distributes the food amongst six pantries in the Lockport area free of charge — unlike the regional food bank, which requires receiving pantries to pay for it. Mayor John Lombardi III visited the post office Wednesday morning to read a proclamation citing the local drive's impact — more than 150,000 pounds of food collected over the past 31 years, a record amount collected last year — and encouraging all city residents to 'join in reaffirming the obligation and commitment to the annual one-day postal food drive.' In Lockport, the 2024 drive raised a new record-setting haul: 9,625 pounds of food. Its previous annual high weight was about 7,900 pounds. The Buffalo Post Office determined that Lockport was 'well above the average for Western New York last year…whereas other locals were down as much as 50 percent,' McAninch said. 'It's the generosity of Lockportonians, I guess.' The letter carriers who pick up bags of food on their route every second Saturday in May are doing so as volunteers. According to Lockport Postmaster Seth Siemucha, carriers are not required to participate, since handling the donations requires extra time and labor on their routes. City letter carrier Mitch Gehring, a 10-year participant in the drive, doesn't think of it as extra work. 'It's nice to help the community, they need it,' he said. 'If I wasn't scheduled to work, I would come in and help.' This year's drive is the 16th Stamp Out Hunger campaign that Siemucha has been involved with as a carrier or a postmaster. In Lockport, he puts on what McAninch called a 'tailgate' for the volunteers, who include some carriers' family members, and aims to make it 'a big event.' 'I love this event,' Siemucha said. 'This is the greatest country in the world, nobody should go hungry. … The drive is all about community. We come together, work hand-in-hand — and it is amazing to see what we can do.' McAninch said the Jeep Wrangler Club of WNY assists by having members pick up food from the carriers and transport it to the Salvation Army for sorting. Volunteers from all walks are welcome to help with that sorting on Saturday, social ministries coordinator Chris Gresart said. McAninch extended the invitation to high school students who need credit for community service hours. They can just show up at the Salvation Army, 50 Cottage St., between 11 a.m. and noon, he said; he has the form that they'll need to certify their hours.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
State official to tour downtown revitalization sites
Flagship locations of Lockport's downtown revitalization efforts will receive a visit from New York's Secretary of State Walter Mosley today. Mosley will attend a ribbon cutting for Big Ditch Brewing Company, visit the Palace Theatre and Harrison Place lofts, view the Lock Tender's Tribute statues, and stop in at several other city sites that received state Downtown Revitalization Initiative funds. Mosley's visit recognizes the completion of $1.8 million renovation of the Historic Lockport Post Office. 'We've heard a lot about the progress,' Mosley said of the post office. 'This was a project that we felt was critical in revitalizing the economic development of Lockport. We believe it has tremendous benefit economically and socially.' New York State's Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) is an economic development program to help turn around downtown cityscapes across the state. 'The DRI transforms downtown neighborhoods into vibrant centers that offer a high quality of life and are magnets for redevelopment, business, job creation, and economic and housing diversity,' according to a state website. 'These compact, walkable downtowns are a key ingredient to helping New York State rebuild its economy from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as to achieving the State's bold climate goals by promoting the use of public transit and reducing dependence on private vehicles.' Lockport received $10 million in DRI funding in round 3 of the initiative. Other Lockport projects included the Spaulding Mill building near the canal locks, the F&M Building, the Pine Street corridor, the South Street pedestrian crossing, and the Tuscarora Club on Walnut Street. 'We want to make sure that people understand that the process they went through is being recognized,' Mosley said. 'We understand that government works best when it works from the ground up.' Mayor John Lombardi III said he will have an opportunity to briefly meet with the secretary, although it won't be to discuss further development.
