HONOR VETERANS NOW

Description

Meals for Vets, a flagship program of Honor Veterans Now was established in 2015, by Korea War Veteran Tom Wollny after he learned that there were veterans under the age of 60 struggling with hunger and lack of financial resources to prepare healthy meals. These veterans could not get help with meals through meal providers because they were too young for federally funded meal programs such as Meals on Wheels.

Several factors were discovered that contribute to food insecurity for veterans: 1.) There are veterans that live outside service areas of many meal providers. 2.) There are wait lists in many areas, so it may take months before veterans start receiving meals. 3.) Wait lists can occur because federal funding covers only 45% of meal costs. 4.) Some veterans have dietary restrictions, so they can’t eat the food prepared by their local Meals on Wheels. 5.) Finally, in 2019 we learned that there are veterans attending college who cannot afford to eat in their college cafeteria.

Simply stated, Meals for Vets works to mitigate the obstacles that prevent a veteran from receiving a daily nutritious meal. We contract with local meal providers to fund meals for veterans that would otherwise be too young, outside their service area, or placed on a wait list. We have expanded into 46 counties in the last few years, and we partner with nine college campuses.