They served, and now some of them struggle to put food on the table.
A thankful veteran has put up $10,000 to match every dollar donated to Long Island Cares’ Heroes Helping Heroes campaign through Veterans Day, November 11. The donations buy nutritious food and grocery gift cards for veterans and their families.
On October 28, Michael Yurieff, treasurer and public image officer of the Rocky Point Rotary Foundation, presented a $500 check to the campaign at Inside the Impact, a donor event at the Long Island Cares warehouse in Hauppauge, New York. With the veteran’s dollar-for-dollar match, Rocky Point Rotary’s $500 gift turned into $1,000 for hunger relief. At Long Island Cares, every $10 donation provides six meals. One promise. One check. Six hundred meals.
Yurieff toured the warehouse, where Long Island Cares receives, sorts and distributes donated food, and met staff and board members. The tour included the Long Island Cares Mobile Pantry, custom-converted vans that bring free groceries to communities across Nassau and Suffolk counties. Every two weeks, the Long Island Cares Homebound Delivery Program brings food to seniors and the disabled. Along with a breakfast truck, a school pantry in Brentwood, and outreach to people experiencing homelessness, these programs have reached 54,609 people this year, enough to fill every seat in Yankee Stadium with 8,000 more waiting outside.
Byron knows what it means to serve. He is a veteran and legally blind. Yet he volunteers at the warehouse, packing food every Friday to distribute. “These people need assistance, and you can help them by packing up donations at Long Island Cares, so they get sent to those in need,” he said. Byron knows that food does more than ease hunger. It makes people feel valued.
Byron will be back at the warehouse next Friday. And the Friday after that. Help Byron put more food into the hands of the people he works so hard to reach.