Leisa Fischer and her granddaughter greeted voters coming in and out of the Frank DeFrancisco Eastwood Community Center.
Fischer was among a handful of people selling baked goods inside the polling station, raising funds for their group, Takeoff Pounds Sensibly (TOPS).
“We have to pay rent anywhere we go to have our weekly meetings, so we have to come up with different ways to raise the money,” Fischer said.
This is the third year they have come to this polling center to raise funds for their group.
“A former member of (TOPS), her husband, is in charge of this place, so he has allowed us to come here,” Fischer said. “It’s been a blessing.”
Alana Jacowitz, an Eastwood resident and recent graduate from the University at Buffalo, cast her vote at the community center before stopping at the bake sale on her way out.
“I’m very motivated to vote in this election,” Jacowitz said. “Something special about this year is that I don’t tend to vote other than in presidential elections, but with everything going on, local politics have become much more important to me.”
On her way out, Jacowitz encourages a man about to walk in to indulge in buying some sweets of his own.
James DeStephano, who lives around the corner and has lived in the neighborhood for 55 years, said voting is easy. “Everyone was cooperative and everything went smoothly,” he said.
Fischer looks forward to seeing less ads after these elections and not being bombarded with negative commercials about what people are against as opposed to seeing what they want to change, she said.
“We need to have the positive, we need to have the people who want to work together,” Fischer said.
