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Feeding the frontline: UB donates vending machine items to local hospitals
UB staff member David Marotta and volunteers filled 26 boxes with 3,000 snacks and other items from UB vending machines to donate to local hospitals.
By GINA CARBONE
Published April 17, 2020
With most UB students completing the semester off campus via distance learning, Campus Dining & Shops found a charitable way to make use of the contents of its vending machines on campus ─ by donating the items to health care workers at local hospitals.
David Marotta, vending manager for Campus Dining & Shops, came up with the idea in honor of National Doctor’s Day on March 30, as well as to express support and thanks to medical staff and employees working during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Marotta told UBNow that he; his wife, Lucinda Marotta; his daughter, Morgan Caputo; and their neighbor, Stephanie Poyfair, set up an assembly line and packed boxes donated by the Home Depot in Lockport with more than 3,000 snacks from the UB vending machines.
“We put in everything, from Cliff bars, chips, fruit, energy drinks, juice, tissues, Snickers … you name it.”
The snacks filled 26 boxes, which Marotta hand-delivered to seven local hospitals: Eastern Niagara Hospital in Lockport, St. Mary’s Hospital in Lewiston, Niagara Falls Memorial Hospital in Niagara Falls, St. Joseph Hospital in Cheektowaga, Sisters of Charity Hospital in Buffalo, Mercy Hospital in Buffalo and Buffalo General Medical Center in Buffalo.
Boxes filled with Cliff bars, chips, fruit, energy drinks, juice, tissues and Snickers, among other things, were delivered to seven local hospitals.
Some of the boxes delivered to Buffalo General Medical Center were then sent to Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital and the John R. Oishei Children’s Hospital.
Marotta and his volunteers included thank-you cards and other signs of appreciation with the boxes in hopes of brightening the spirits of the hospital staff who would receive them.
He says the hospital workers and essential medical staff ─ facing long hours and high stress ─ were grateful to receive the donations.
“The reactions we received from our contacts at the hospital were quite humbling,” Marotta said. “Our contact, Kyle, at Catholic Health Systems said the whole staff is under great pressure. And being able to relax for a bit with a snack, and not worrying about where to get that from, will be a blessing.”