People gathered and shopping at an outdoor table of clothing and other items in front of a supermarket on a sunny day.
People gathered and shopping at an outdoor table of clothing and other items in front of a supermarket on a sunny day.

Our Services

Known as The Exchange, our services are designed around one simple truth:
people deserve support wherever they are in their journey.

We provide peer-led, outreach-based services across Buffalo and Western New York,
going to people rather than waiting for people to come to us.

Community Pop-Ups

Every second Saturday of the month, 12–2PM, we set up at the intersection of Broadway and Miller in Buffalo NY, where anyone from the community can come get supplies and resources. No appointment, no questions asked.

Come for the naloxone, come for the food, come to say hi.

Street Outreach

Four days a week, our team goes out on foot and by vehicle to reach people who can't come to us, including places without an address. As Western New York’s only peer-led Syringe Service Program, we bring harm reduction supplies, wound care, and basic needs directly to people. We build relationships that last longer than a single interaction.

Every Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, 10AM to 7PM.

Community Pop-Ups and Street Outreach and Include:

  • Snacks

  • Hygiene products

  • Community Health Education

  • Syringes

  • Wound care

  • Safer smoking supplies

Various drug testing kits and supplies displayed on a table, including boxes labeled 'Rapid Response Drug Screening Test' and 'Easy Touch' insulin syringes, with a person in an orange shirt and blue gloves in the background.
Display of emergency healthcare products including Narcan nasal spray boxes, Julie contraceptive tablets, and Rapid Response test strips on a purple tablecloth.
Display of emergency healthcare products including Narcan nasal spray boxes, Julie contraceptive tablets, and Rapid Response test strips on a purple tablecloth.

To request delivery or ask about available supplies, call or text: 716-374-1759

Basic Needs Support

We meet the whole person, not just one need. Connections to Giving Back distributes clothing, food, toiletries, wound care supplies, and hygiene kits through outreach and at our regular community pop-ups.

Portable showers are coming soon!

A woman receiving medical care for her injured leg, which has a bleeding wound, outside near parked cars on a sunny day.

Linkage to Care

We do not just point people in a direction. We walk with them.

Connections to Giving Back connects people to mental health services, housing supports, substance use treatment, primary care, HIV and hepatitis C care, nutritional programs, case management, and transportation, through relationships we've already built and direct handoffs to providers we know.

For anyone who wants information about treatment, we give it straight: accurate, non-coercive information about treatment pathways, detox, medication-assisted treatment, and peer support. On your terms, at your pace. Asking a question is not a commitment.

A healthcare worker wearing glasses, gloves, and a plaid jacket is administering a vaccination to a woman in a leather jacket who is holding her arm out. The woman is wearing a necklace with a heart pendant and appears to be in an outdoor setting.

Substance Use Treatment Navigation

For anyone who wants information about treatment options, we are here to help, on their terms, at their pace. We provide accurate, non-coercive information about treatment pathways, detox, medication-assisted treatment, and peer support.

People gather around a table with supplies outdoors, with trees and buildings in the background.
Purple heart icon on a black background
Purple heart icon on a black background

The Data Behind the Need

21

As of October 2025, Erie County is averaging twenty-one preventable overdose deaths every single month. Racial disparities in those deaths remain significant. And across the country, between 69% and 81% of high-need counties still lack a syringe service program entirely. Connections to Giving Back exists to close that gap in Western New York.

50%

According to the CDC, syringe service programs are associated with a 50% reduction in HIV and hepatitis C incidence. Peer-led models, where services are delivered by people with lived experience, improve engagement and outcomes across the board.

Sources: Erie County Medical Examiner's Office, BRIDGE Erie, November 2025; CDC, Strengthening Syringe Services Programs, October 2024; Implementation Gaps in US Syringe Services Programs, PMC, July 2025.

Our services are mobile, peer-driven, and built around the people who need them most. If you need support,
we will find a way to reach you.