Man who grew up in Buffalo helps with donations drive in Rochester for storm relief
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ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A moving truck full of donations from Rochester arrived in Buffalo on Thursday afternoon.
Volunteers spent Wednesday packing the truck at Parcel 5. The donations went straight to one of the hardest-hit parts of Buffalo.
Torye Harris, who helped with the donations drive in Rochester, grew up in the Buffalo area.
“We made it through the blizzard of ’77 and I remember State Police picking my mom up on a snowmobile to get her to the hospital because they needed all the nurses that they could at the hospital but this was worse much worse,” Harris said.
He knows because his mother, who is in her 80’s, just went through it.
“I was in contact with her and my sisters the whole time they never lost electricity they just couldn’t leave the house they have not been out of the house since the storm hit Friday,” Harris said.
He’s just thankful they’re okay and they’ve been able to stretch their supplies.
“My mother is elderly so they believe in stockpiling food great thing now I see the benefit of doing that,” Harris said.
As soon as the travel ban was lifted, Toyre headed to his mom’s house. Before that, he worked with Untrapped Ministries to help set up a donation drive here in Rochester.
“I am a member of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity incorporated and our fraternity brothers in Buffalo contacted us here and some people said, hey, we can help out,” Harris said. “The great part is that the goods here are going to go to the Buffalo area the Jefferson Rec Center and our fraternity brothers there will help distribute it to the community there.”
That’s exactly what happened. The packed U-Haul got a National Guard escort into Buffalo. It was unloaded and the donated items passed out in the same neighborhood where the Tops mass shooting took place in May that killed ten.
If you would like to help Buffalo with storm relief, you can see a list of verified charities on this GoFundMe page.
More about Rochester helping Buffalo:
- ‘We’re all Western New Yorkers’: Rochester steps up to help Buffalo (Dec. 29)
- First responders from Rochester area continue to help Buffalo after deadly snowstorm (Dec. 28)
- Rochester area first responders help with search and rescue in Buffalo (Dec. 27)