By Anna Carrera | acarrera@wcia.com
DANVILLE -- Volunteers with the Eastern Illinois Foodbank will start seeing many more veterans in the next year. They're starting a pop up food pantry inside the chapel at the Danvillle VA. The first day is next Tuesday. Then they'll happen every couple weeks after that for about a year.
The food bank got a $10,000 grant last year to help with food mobile distribution. This time around, they went even bigger and requested $75,000. They need that money because they plan to have the pantry at the VA 22 times between now and next October.
There's no permanent spot for that on the VA's campus, so they plan to set up inside the chapel. Organizers say they're glad their first event will happen between Veterans Day and Thanksgiving, giving veterans a new opportunity to stock their shelves for the holidays.
"This just allows us to go in and be flexible and work with the volunteer base we have, work with the population we're going to be serving, and really kind of target and focus the distribution to best serve the clients," said Kristen Bosch, who is the vice president of development & community partnerships.
The Eastern Illinois Foodbank gives away food in 17 different counties, helping upwards of 100,000 people a year, but they haven't had a specific program for veterans until now. Organizers expect to feed more than 100 veterans and their families. Any veteran that gets benefits from the VA now and meets income requirements can stop by. They'll be able to pick up food and household staples there.
The first event is Tuesday, November 22. It will go from 10-11:30 AM at the chapel on the grounds of the VA hospital in Danville. For more information about future dates, click here.
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