VETS IN NEED OF OUR HELP
There’s perhaps no other group in society that’s held in such high regard as our veterans. Generations of Canadians have answered the call to protect us, and have done so in impressive fashion, serving far away from their homes and loved ones. They have risked injury and death to fight for our way of life and freedoms.
Canadians across the country will pause to honour our veterans one week from today, on Remembrance Day, Nov. 11. It’s a wonderful gesture, but we fall short as a community if our military men and women go hungry. The fact we must have a food bank to administer to their needs is sad enough, but when the shelves are almost bare, well, that’s a travesty.
The Veterans’ Food Bank’s Joey Bleviss said last week that he’d never seen the agency’s food stocks so thin — this while the need for hampers is climbing. Bleviss said he was distributing approximately 80 hampers a month early in the year. Now, demand has risen to 130 hampers a month and donations have ebbed.
“It’s empty, bare,” he said recently. “In my six years on this job, I’ve never seen them so empty.
“The economy has certainly had an impact on our usage — a lot of younger veterans who work in the oilpatch are still trying to sort themselves out,” said Bleviss, adding that recipients seek help only as a last resort.
Wearing a poppy on your lapel is a poignant symbol of support for our veterans. It’s also a way of raising money for the needy among their ranks. Last year, $4.9 million was distributed to veterans and their families in Alberta and the Northwest Territories for food, shelter, clothing, prescriptions, medical equipment and other necessities.
Thieves who pinch the containers of cash sitting on shops’ counters are a yearly scourge, however, figuratively taking food out of the mouths of those who served their country so bravely. It’s hard to imagine a more contemptible theft.
News of the food bank’s plight has thankfully spurred an increase in donations in recent days, but the need is still great.
Non-perishable food items and cash donations can be dropped off at Crown Surplus, 1005 11th St. S.E., until Nov. 15. The business is a sponsor of the 10th annual Veterans’ Food Drive.
Donations can also be left at the Veterans’ Food Bank itself, in Building J of Pockar Park, 4539 6th St. N.E.
Our veterans have done so much for us. We owe it to our former military members to think of them not only around Remembrance Day, but throughout the year.