Adopt-A-Route Spotlight: M&T Bank
The familiar green shirts of M&T Bank volunteers are seen supporting FeedMore WNY hunger-relief programs throughout the year, as their team of employees regularly devote time and talent at our food distribution warehouse, through our Adopt-A-Route program and at distributions in the community.
Each month, FeedMore WNY welcomes volunteers from M&T Bank to our warehouse at 91 Holt Street. Volunteers sort donated food and pack boxes for distribution back into the community.
As regular Adopt-A-Route volunteers in West Buffalo, representatives from M&T Bank deliver meals three days each week from our site at the Richmond-Summer Senior Center. Starting with a few dozen employees in 2014, their team’s involvement in our home-delivered meal program has grown to more than 100 employees.
What motivates your team to volunteer with FeedMore WNY?
M&T prides itself in being a bank for communities—we have operated as a Buffalo headquartered bank since our founding in 1856. M&T provides its employees 40 paid hours per year to volunteer in our communities, which solves for one of the hurdles that many individuals have in finding time to give back. FeedMore WNY’s core mission is to provide both hope and healthy food options to food insecure individuals and families, and M&T is proud to support this work in looking after our neighbors in greatest need. There are a few M&T employees deeply interested in FeedMore WNY who organize the volunteer efforts, and provide visibility for the available volunteer opportunities that makes it easy for other employees to volunteer.
Can you share a moment you (or a team member) experienced that shows the importance of community volunteering?
Matt Cohen has been one of our Adopt-a-Route program volunteers since 2014, even bringing his wife and two boys with him to volunteer. Starting during the pandemic, Matt took it upon himself to gather a dozen or so M&T employees each month to volunteer in FeedMore WNY’s warehouse, sorting food boxes that then get distributed out to food pantries, soup kitchens and families throughout the four counties of WNY. Matt is a shining example that the more people volunteer, the more they look for new ways to give back to fortify our community.
How did your company get involved with FeedMore WNY?
In 2014, Tara Ellis (FeedMore WNY President & CEO) presented to a group of M&T employees about ways that M&T could support Meals on Wheels for WNY and shortly thereafter, M&T began participating in the Adopt-a-Route program. Through this program, employees give 1-2 hours per week to deliver both a hot and cold meal to our homebound neighbors. What started with a couple of dozen employees taking responsibility for delivering meals one day a week to our homebound neighbors on Buffalo’s west side has grown to over a hundred M&T employees delivering meals three days a week.
What would you say to other organizations interested in volunteering?
Volunteering with FeedMore WNY allows employees to spend time with each other and to build stronger bonds, while doing good in WNY. FeedMore WNY makes it easy to give back, whether you’re looking to volunteer occasionally, or preferably on an ongoing basis. Between the home-delivered meals program, sorting and packing food boxes in FeedMore WNY’s warehouse, supporting fundraising efforts and helping with various administrative tasks, there are many ways for companies or organizations to start volunteering.
Volunteers from M&T Bank also supported our emergency distributions in East Buffalo, distributing food and personal care products to neighbors affected by the tragic shooting at Buffalo’s Jefferson Avenue supermarket. Watch an interview highlighting the work of M&T Bank volunteers at our distribution site by clicking here.
Thank you to all of the volunteers from M&T Bank who help us offer dignity, hope and a brighter future to our Western New York neighbors in need.
about M&T Bank
M&T Bank Corporation is a financial holding company headquartered in Buffalo, New York. M&T’s principal banking subsidiary, M&T Bank, provides banking products and services in 12 states across the eastern U.S. from Maine to Virginia and Washington, D.C. Trust-related services are provided in select markets in the U.S. and abroad by M&T’s Wilmington Trust-affiliated companies and by M&T Bank.
learn moreabout our adopt-a-route program
Adopt-A-Route is an easy and efficient way for companies and groups to give back to the community. It helps individuals find time to give back—no matter how busy someone’s schedule may be. Plus, it makes people feel good and helps cement relationships within a team.
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