For Veterans and our Community, Need Has No Season

On a recent Friday, hundreds of veterans gathered in a cavernous National Guard armory on Chicago’s North Side. Several wore their dress uniforms, studded with pins and draped in medals. Many wore hats emblazoned with their branch of service. They smiled, laughed together and shared old stories. They are proud. They have served our country. And yet, most of them were here because they are hungry.

This is the scene at the veteran Stand Down – a semi-annual resource event for homeless veterans which provides a respite from the rigors of living on the street and helps prepare those in need for the impending Chicago winter. On that day, nearly 600 veterans received a hot meal, a take-away bag of food, winter coats, medical services and more. The Stand Down included veterans like Michael, who served in the military overseas for nine years and is now homeless.

“Events like this make veterans feel appreciated,” he said. “I’m hungry, but this meal and these people make it better.”

The scale of the event, with dozens of organizations working together to provide resources to veterans, is impressive and inspiring. But it’s also a harsh reminder that the need among those who have served is incredibly high. According to the U.S. Census American Community Survey, in Cook County, Illinois alone, more than 13,000 veterans are living in poverty. Nationally, more than 1.2 million veterans are living in poverty.

With Veterans Day not far from our minds and Thanksgiving right around the corner, our community rallies around those in need, including veterans. And that support is certainly helpful. During the holidays, those who are struggling with hunger often feel the need more acutely. For so many of us, the holidays are defined by the food we eat and the memories we make around the dinner table. Yet, millions of Americans won’t be able to afford a Thanksgiving meal this year. Families will turn to food pantries for turkeys, cranberry sauce, potatoes and vegetables because they don’t have enough money to make ends meet. Instead of looking forward to the season, it can be a time of stress, discouragement and uncertainty.

And yet, I see hope everywhere. I see it first in the life-changing power of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which is our nation’s front-line defense against hunger. A recent study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities showed that nearly 1.5 million veterans live in households that receive SNAP benefits. In Illinois, according to the report, 52,000 veterans receive SNAP. Overall in the state, nearly 2 million people receive SNAP.

For our low-income neighbors – including veterans – struggling with hunger, SNAP provides a catapult from hunger to hope. It enables individuals and families to afford the food they need to live healthy lives. When there’s not enough money left over at the end of the month to afford groceries, SNAP fills in. It feeds children, older adults and veterans alike.

But SNAP is just the beginning. There is hope in the youthful enthusiasm of a child collecting donations for the local food pantry. Or, in the smiles of volunteers at the Greater Chicago Food Depository repacking fresh produce. And I see hope in the community-wide response to hunger. The dozens of organizations giving of their time to veterans at the Stand Down is just one recent example of the bravery and generosity of our community.

But, there’s so much more we could do. And that begins with coming to one sometimes challenging realization: hunger exists beyond the holidays. Well after the turkeys have been carved, the presents unwrapped and the decorations are put away, there will still be millions of Americans who aren’t sure where their next meal is coming from. Parents will get their children ready for school, uncertain what they’ll be having for dinner that night. Veterans will struggle to afford nutritious food. Older adults living on fixed incomes will make impossible choices between food and medicine.

Hunger-relief gets a lot of attention around the holidays, and rightfully so. But if we are going to move the needle on hunger, we need our elected officials to know that we can’t do this alone. A strong and fully-funded SNAP program is critical if we are to ensure no one in Illinois – and across the country – goes hungry. SNAP is efficient, adaptable and provides much-needed nutrition to those who otherwise would not be able to access it. Our lawmakers in Washington, D.C. must protect SNAP and other federal nutrition programs such as TEFAP and WIC.

So this holiday season, pick up the phone. Call your lawmakers and urge them to support and protect a strong nutrition safety net. Tell them that without programs like SNAP, WIC and TEFAP, children and families in our community would be faced with empty plates this Thanksgiving and beyond. Let them know that SNAP works, and that federal nutrition programs provide hope for those in need now and throughout the year.

And once we’ve done that, we have to change the paradigm. And that starts with small steps, like thinking outside the holidays. Encourage your family, church group or colleagues to volunteer in the middle of February. Start a food drive in July. Don’t wait until the end of the year to make a donation – because hunger exists in every community, every single day of the year.

So, while the holidays provide us an incredible opportunity to feed our neighbors, let’s think of November and December not as an endpoint. Instead, let’s see the holidays as an opportunity to mobilize our community for a year-long response to hunger. Let’s work together to teach those in a position to help that need has no season. Let’s work together to brighten the lives of hundreds of thousands and provide food and hope to our neighbors struggling with hunger, during the holidays and beyond.