Erie County and its’ community partners are mobilizing to offer services, support, counseling and more to members of the Buffalo community dealing with the trauma of Saturday’s mass shooting at the Tops Market on Jefferson Avenue in Buffalo. Numerous offices and departments are joining with community agencies on-site and in the neighborhood to offer mental health and counseling services to the community, food aid to community members coping with the loss of their market, and services and supports for family members of the victims.  

Free Mental Health & Trauma Counseling: Family members and community residents will find support and someone to talk to at the Johnnie B. Wiley Sports Pavilion, 1100 Jefferson Avenue on Sunday May 15 and Monday May 16 from 9:00 AM – 9:00 PM. No appointment needed, services for children are available and provided by Say Yes Buffalo. If you can’t stop by, call Crisis Services at 716-834-3131. Counseling Services provide by Spectrum C.A.R.E.S., Crisis Services, Endeavor, and Best Self Behavioral Health.

Language Line Interpretation Services are available for speakers of Arabic, Burmese, Cantonese, Farsi, French, Haitian Creole, Hindi, Hmong, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, and Vietnamese.

Free food for community members will be available from the Resource Center at 347 East Ferry in Buffalo and will be distributed from that location from 2:00 PM – 9:00 PM on Monday May 16, then from 9 AM – 9 PM until at least Friday May 27. The food is provided by Tops Friendly Markets, the Resource Center, and FeedMore of WNY with additional support provided by the American Red Cross.

The Erie County District Attorney’s Office, along with other NYS Office of Victim Services funded programs, is working to help the victims’ families access compensation programs. Family members can get more information at (716) 858-2400, this line is answered live 8:30-5:00 Monday-Friday.  Messages are monitored at other times. All other calls at 716-858-4640.

Victims’ family members may also be eligible for compensation to help with funeral costs. For more information, contact the NYS Office of Victim Services at 1-800-247-8035 or at https://ovs.ny.gov/ .

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