Buffalo Bills' Ray Davis, UnitedHealthcare & Agents for Advocacy team up to provide for community

Article and Photos by David Yarger

As the winter season rolls in by the day, many citizens of the Buffalo community are looking for the sense of joy that the holidays tend to bring.

For some underprivileged families, it can be tough to get excited around this time, as the weather only gets colder.

Tuesday evening, UnitedHealthcare, Agents For Advocacy and Buffalo Bills second-year running back Ray Davis teamed up to give back to the Buffalo community.

Davis; Mark Talley, founder and executive director at Agents for Advocacy; Jason Isbrandt, UnitedHealthcare community plan of New York; and team members from both organizations teamed up to hand bags of fresh produce, nonperishables and desserts just in time for the holiday season.

Families from around the area came through the Our Mommie Village facility, 1319 Jefferson Ave., and braced the cold WNY evening to meet Davis and also pick up some much-needed items.

For Talley, this was the third annual holiday drive. He said the group usually does a few of these around the holidays, mainly surrounding Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

“We do this in the community to try to give back and help out people who are, unfortunately, going through everyday struggles with the rise of inflation, salaries not keeping up with that cost of inflation. So, we just try to help out (where we can),” Talley said.

Food insecurity affects millions of people across the country, especially in Western New York, where an estimated 185,000 people are affected. Locally, in Erie County, over 13% of the population is food insecure, meaning they don’t have access to sufficient food or adequate nutritional resources.

The food contributed to the drive was donated and paid for by UnitedHealthcare, and picked up locally at the Tops grocery store on Jefferson Avenue. Talley mentioned that Tops gave a friendly discount on the items, as well. All in all, 200 bags were filled and donated to families in need.

For Isbrandt and UH, supporting this cause was a no-brainer.

“We felt the best way to do that would be a food giveaway,” Isbrandt said. “By partnering with a strong community advocate such as Ray Davis and Marcus Talley, we do what’s right by the community this holiday season.”

Isbrandt added the importance of being a part of community events such as Tuesday evening’s with Talley and Davis.

“We’re not just an insurance company … we also want to do what’s right for the community, and we’re always looking for ways and avenues to give back whenever we have the opportunity to do so,” Isbrandt said.

Talley, the leader of Agents for Advocacy, a Buffalo-based nonprofit organization dedicated to spreading awareness of socioeconomic inequality and systemic racism, praised the support from UH and Davis.

“It’s amazing. You can only go so far as the support you have from people behind you,” Talley said. “I definitely love the fact that UnitedHealthcare, Tops, the Buffalo Bills and Ray Davis are supporting the stuff I’m trying to do here in the community.”

Ray Davis took time to sign autographs and take photos.

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For Davis, helping those in need is near and dear to his roots. The 2024 fourth-round pick out of Kentucky grew up in tough times, living in foster care throughout his childhood.

“I was once in this position,” he said. “As a child, my mom was a single mother and she didn’t have all the abilities to give us the best childhood that we wanted at that time. So, to know what struggle is like and to know that I can be able to help provide and take some relief off families … that’s an amazing opportunity for me.”

Davis, who scored seven touchdowns as a rookie, added just because he has fame, it doesn’t take away the struggle he and others have faced – and also doesn’t mean he can’t help out others.

He and Bills teammates such as Damar Hamlin, Josh Allen and Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee Dion Dawkins, have all made it a point of emphasis to give back to the community in which they were drafted. Davis noted the “City of Good Neighbors” has always had their backs.

“It starts with us as players,” he said. “Obviously, you got guys like Dion and all these other guys that are in the community setting the tone, and setting the foundation for the younger guys like myself to want to come in and have an impact, too. This is our city, this our home, and they embrace us on the field, and they embrace any chance they get; so, we have to be able to do the same. We’re not just professional athletes, we’re human beings, too, and to know that everybody has a sense of struggle and we all need a little bit of support, and we’re going to lend that support as much as we can.”