ACTIVITIES & EVENTS

THANK YOU to everyone who turned out to Comedy for a Cause on April 15, 2026 in Rochester! It was a laugh-filled celebration of our remote volunteers who make it possible for your Niagara Frontier Radio Reading Service to serve listeners with reading disabilities since the services in Rochester and Syracuse closed during COVID.

Special thanks to Wegmans for sponsoring the event, Comedy @ The Carlson for being such a fabulous venue, and Western New York comedy legend Vinnie Paulino (pictured at right) for putting a big smile on our face! If you’re interested in being a remote volunteer – recording publications from the comfort of your home – contact us at 716-821-5555 extension 3 or send us a completed Volunteer Information Form, found on the Volunteer page of this website.

THANK YOU to everyone who made our 2nd Annual Meat Raffle on November 7 at Main-Transit Fire Hall a big success! Our largest fundraiser of the year was a ton of fun for a great cause, with twice as many meat and raffle prizes as last year, party music, and shouts of joy! We are especially appreciative of the 65 individuals, businesses, and organizations that donated raffle prizes, BestMeatRaffles.com for hosting, and our amazing team of two dozen volunteers who worked the event. We could not have done it without you!

THANK YOU to everyone who attended our Summer Bash Celebrating Disability Pride Month on July 19 under the outdoor pavilion at Buffalo River Grove. It was a beautiful sunny day full of music by Buffalo Music Hall of Fame party band The Boys of Summer, a delicious picnic buffet, outdoor games, and a variety of raffles to win everything from Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra tickets to a $100 Wegmans gift card. We are especially grateful to our sponsors: Mineo & Sapio Italian Sausage, TSG Management Group – McDonald’s, Five Star Bank, Perry’s Ice Cream, Univera Healthcare, Voya Financial, and West Herr Auto Group. Special thanks to Comet Flasher for letting us borrow traffic cones for the parking lot and to Western New York Independent Living, the National Federation of the Blind New York – Buffalo Chapter, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and Compeer Buffalo for providing informational resources for our resource table.

THANK YOU to everyone who attended our 2025 Volunteer Appreciation Celebration on May 20 at the Creekside Banquet Facility. Our volunteer readers are the reason your Niagara Frontier Radio Reading Service can exist, so we are very appreciative of their time and efforts. As Executive Director Mike Benzin said, Radio Reading’s volunteers are the most dedicated he’s known in his 30 years working in nonprofits!

It was also a bittersweet evening, as we recognized the passing of our Founder, Robert Sikorski on March 29. Bob gave more than 30 years of his heart and soul to Radio Reading and helped cement its future by partnering with Western New York Independent Living before he stepped down due to health problems.

Check out the many photos from the event on our Facebook page at this link: (1) Facebook

NOW AVAILABLE!
The 30th Anniversary Edition of
The Broadcasters Eat Their Words Second Helpings Cookbook

With a Forward by Buffalo’s Emmy award-winning writer and producer Tom Fontana, enjoy this hardcover keepsake with 80 pages of recipes and helpful hints from local broadcasters like Jacquie Walker, Linda Pellegrino, Mike Schopp, and Laura Daniels, chefs like Lidia Bastianich, Rick Bayless, Mark Sciortino, and Diane Kochilas, plus many of our volunteer readers. Only $25 each plus shipping. To purchase, call (716) 821-5555 ext. 3, pick up a copy at our studios, or click here!

Recipes for Pancetta, Pasta Puttanesca and Plum Dumplings

Helpful Baking Hints for Breads and Desserts

The Volunteers & Partners Celebration, sponsored by Wegmans on October 23, 2024, honored the volunteers who helped us expand into the Rochester area. Pictured (left to right) are Tom Allen, NFRRS Executive Director Mike Benzin and Ginni Jurkowski.

It also was the launch of a major push to ensure people there who are blind or have a print disability remain engaged and informed members of their community. Thank you to everyone who joined us, including Visions Services at Goodwill of the Finger Lakes and Starbridge. And thank you Comedy @ The Carlson for the venue.

"Radio Reading Makes Cents"

Individuals, groups, and companies are invited to help give people who are blind or have a print disability a chance to read by joining our annual “Radio Reading Makes Cents” Coin Drive, collecting spare change for your Niagara Frontier Radio Reading Service.

Radio Reading makes sense — but Radio Reading also makes “C-E-N-T-S,” as people are asked to collect and bring in their extra coins to keep us on air.

Coins can be dropped off at your Niagara Frontier Radio Reading Service studios at 1199 Harlem Road in Cheektowaga (between Clinton and Dingens Streets). We will also pick up large quantities of coins upon request.

Our Coin Drive helps drive our programming, provides special “reading radios,” and supports the streaming of our live feed and podcasts to the internet.

Northtowns Resident?
Do you shop at Dash’s?

Maybe you should!

For every $100 our supporters spend at Dash’s, we get $2.50. All you have to do is send us the original register receipts. It couldn’t be any easier! Dash’s has contributed thousands of dollars over the years to your Niagara Frontier Radio Reading Service.

Dash's Markets Locations

North Buffalo
1770 Hertel near Starin

Kenmore
1210 Colvin at Highland

Amherst
499 West Klein at Hopkins

Clarence
8845 Main near Shimmerville

Contact Us!

Donations and Dash’s receipts can be mailed to or dropped off at:
Niagara Frontier Radio Reading Service, 1199 Harlem Road, Buffalo, NY 14227

Coins can be dropped off at:
1199 Harlem Road, between Clinton and Dingens Streets

Questions?

Call your Niagara Frontier Radio Reading Service at (716) 821-5555.

Money raised is used to deliver our programs on air and online to listeners in Western New York, the Rochester & Genesee Valley region, and Southern Ontario.