The Watsonville Veterans Food Pantry program is offering groceries, clothing and other necessities to former service members on Veterans Day, as it does every Tuesday at the Watsonville Veterans Memorial Building.
LoisRae Guin, a 98-year-old veteran of the Korean War, where she served on a hospital ship, and James Dailey, a retired Marine, founded the food pantry program last November to provide veterans with resources.
“We mainly want to keep the veterans off the streets, keep them fed, give them resources,” like clothes, sleeping bags, brand-new donated shoes, wheelchairs and other medical devices, said Guin.
Staff from the Veterans Services Office in Santa Cruz are also on hand to connect unhoused veterans with rental assistance and supportive services, as well as state and federal benefits such as veterans compensation, pension claims, health care enrollment, burial benefits and educational assistance. Veterans Administration doctors show up every second Tuesday of the month to provide medical care to veterans with appropriate ID.
Guin said she’s seen a small uptick in demand for food since the government shutdown cut off federal food assistance benefits. The food pantry usually serves 60 to 70 veterans, plus their family members.
“We bought shelving. We fixed some of the doors to keep the rats out, and we did what we could,” Guin said. “We contacted Second Harvest, and we’ve worked with some of the stores, and Safeway has been great helping us give us food.”
Volunteers collect day-old grocery items from Safeway, which helps round out the pantry’s offerings with meat, eggs and other proteins, she said.
Roland “Doc” Garza, the food pantry’s manager, said veterans can get their immediate needs met and ideally connect to services that meet their long-term needs.
“They can get a voucher and they can get, they can get taken care of during this time, especially this critical need where everything is getting shut down,” he said.
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