Hundreds of area veterans and their families will be getting assistance through the generosity of shoppers and a regional big box store.
Meijer of Lima handing over dozens of gift cards on Tuesday to the Allen County Veterans Food Pantry totaling more than $17,000. The money was raised through the company’s “Simply Give” program where shoppers can donate $10 and Meijer will match or double match that. Just over $7,000 was donated with the store kicking in around d $10,000. The Veterans Food Pantry says the donation will go to good use to those veterans in need.
Veterans Food Pantry Director Betsy Potts has this to say. “It means the world to us because it’ll put food on our shelves for several months. It’ll help all the veterans and their families in the surrounding area.”
Meijer store director Mark Campbell added, “We run this program several times a year and we change up organizations. But this is by far the best response we have seen so far. We will definitely do this with them again and we also rotate through so it’s a really good program.”
The Veterans Food Pantry moved into the former “Q”-restaurant 5 years ago on North Street across from Mercy Health St. Rita’s. They say the location has been great for their clients and just signed a new 5-year contract to stay at that location. They serve about 350 veterans and their families monthly which equates to just over 800 people assisted each month.
