With an increasing number of Berks County veterans struggling financially, three local entities have teamed up to raise food for former military members and raise awareness of their needs.
The Veterans Coalition of Pennsylvania, the Berks County Department of Veterans Affairs and the Pennsylvania Army National Guard are in the middle of a food drive that will culminate in a ruck march through Reading to City Park for distribution on June 8.
“No one who has fought to defend our nation and our American way of life should have to worry about where their next meal is coming from or where they will lay their head at night,” said Jay Ostrich, director of the Berks Veterans Bureau .
That idea — combined with the growing number of veterans calling his office because they were in financial crisis — helped spark the food drive, he said.
Many veterans are on fixed incomes, he said, and as grocery costs rise, their money doesn’t go as far as it used to.
“We get dozens of calls a week from veterans who are struggling to make ends meet,” he said. “Many are one unexpected bill or phone call away from disaster.”
Assistance from the VA often takes time, he said, so food collection partners are trying to provide them with more immediate assistance, he said.
“We are looking at what we can do to care for them now and give them some relief from their suffering,” he said.
The veterans coalition holds a veterans meeting every second Saturday of the month at City Park and the fourth Saturday of every month at Pottstown’s Memorial Park, where bags of food, clothing, a hot meal and other necessities are distributed to dozens of veterans at City Park. needs and other services are provided.
The food drive will be combined with that Reading event.
Canned and packaged food, toiletries and other items will be collected at the Berks veterans office, 726 Cherry St., and the National Guard station, 2601 River Road, Muhlenberg Township.
On June 8, a group of veterans will fill their backpacks with those items and march from the William Penn Memorial Fire Tower on Skyline Drive to the park. Some of the supplies will be distributed there to the dozens of veterans attending the stand-down, and the rest will allow the coalition to stock up for upcoming events.
Coalition Chairman Chris Spohn said he has also seen the need for food increase.
More and more veterans are having to make needs-based decisions, such as whether to spend their money on medications or gas to help them get to work, he said.
If the event can help reduce the stress of food insecurity for veterans, they will be able to better pay their other bills, including rent and utilities, and focus more on their health and employment, Ostrich said.
Staff Sgt. Brandon Jacoby, a National Guard recruiter in Muhlenberg, wants the event to make people realize how much local veterans need support.
Hopefully they too will contribute to the cause, he said.
“The more people who are willing to help us help our brothers and sisters, the better,” he said.
The three entities leading the food drive will continue to collaborate on other veteran support projects, officials said.
“We will not stop working together until the mission is accomplished,” Jacoby said, referring to when veteran hunger is no longer an issue in Berks. “It’s our job to take care of each other.”
More information
For more information about the food drive and ruck march, call the Berks County Department of Veterans Affairs office at 610-378-5601.
