City of Orlando uses parade money to feed hungry veterans
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer knew the annual Veterans Day parade, typically attended by a crowd filled with seniors, wasn’t going to work this year amid the coronavirus pandemic.
But Dyer said he still wanted to use the $4,000 the city would have spent on the parade to help local men and women who served in the military. He tasked his Veterans Advisory Council with coming up with an alternative.
The result will happen Friday morning when Dyer along with the council and former parade participants will join Soldiers’ Angels volunteers in the parking lot of the Elks Lodge on Primrose Drive.
Together they will distribute food and Thanksgiving turkeys to 300 veterans and their families.
Each veteran will receive 75 pounds of groceries or enough for about 7-10 family meals.
“It allows the veteran family that might not otherwise be able to purchase a Thanksgiving Day meal to be able to celebrate with their loved ones in a safe, pandemic way, and it takes some of the burden off of them of trying to figure out how they might provide for their family during that week,” Dyer said.
Dyer will also issue a proclamation declaring Nov. 20 as “Soldiers’ Angels Mobile Food Distribution Day” in the City of Orlando at Friday’s event.
Priscila Kalagian, Veterans Advisory Council chair, said the rising level of food insecurity in Orlando made for a perfect investment of the parade funds, especially with the holidays approaching.
“Weinthecommunityknowhow many folks are challenged right now because of the loss of jobs,” Kalagian said. “We are a tourist-dependent community, so we know that even beforethepandemictherewasgreat need.”
Soldiers’ Angels is a national nonprofit organization that serves active-duty military, veterans and their families through various service programs like the food distribution program in Orlando. Typically, the organization provides food for about 200 veterans each month, but with COVID-19 still surging and Thanksgiving approaching, it increased that amount to 300.
Veterans interested in receiving the meals must pre-register to reserve their food. Friday’s event is already at capacity, with about 75
people on the waiting list to receive food.
“The veterans are very prideful, so having them sign up and say ‘I need food’ is very difficult for them,” said Christina W. Atkinson, a representative for Soldiers’ Angels.
While the demand for food has increased, the organization has seen a decrease in the number of businesses willing to sponsor its food distributions as more companies feel the financial strain of the pandemic. Volunteers have also been in shorter supply, and in some cases, veterans waiting for food themselves have offered to get out of their cars to help serve the food.
Soldiers’ Angels puts an emphasis on providing food that the veterans can really use, such as rice, meat, produce and noodles, particularly during the holiday season when children are home from school and family members are visiting.
“It makes their family feel like they are having real meals instead of the bare minimum that they can afford,” she said.
For Atkinson, who is a wife of a veteran herself, the bonds that are built while helping these veterans and their families are special.
“When the veterans come through and they are so very thankful that you’re giving them food; it’s heartbreaking and humbling knowing that you’re giving [to] these people who have sacrificed so much for us,” Atkinson said.
Veterans interested in future food distributions can sign up online for emails or text alerts at https:// soldiersangels.org/texts/ or bytextingORLANDOMFD to 1-844-337-2895. Soldiers’ Angels next food distribution event will be on Dec. 18.