Photo By Capt. Angelo Mejia | Soldiers of Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Brigade...... read more read more
Subscribe
In response to the rise of unemployment in Hawaii due to COVID-19, Soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division, partnered with the Hawaii Foodbank and hundreds of volunteers from the community to provide a biweekly food distribution point at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu for those in need.
The food distribution, which occurs on Wednesdays and Fridays, has provided meals to roughly 4,000 households per day assisting members of the community that have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The distribution event started April 28, 2020 and is scheduled to continue until further notice by local officials.
The hundreds of volunteers start early in the morning moving several tons of food around and packing thousands of donation bags. Each bag contains approximately 60 pounds of food items including meat, noodles, eggs, milk, bread, cheese, and other items.
“We start by filling the bags with everything they need and then we go to our stations to hand out food to the cars as they drive through,” said Pfc. Zackery Overmyer, a Infantryman from Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Inf. Div.
The drive through donation point began at 10 a.m. and the volunteers worked under the hot sun through throughout the day until all the food bags were handed out.
“The volunteers are critical to the success of something like this. The Soldiers being here today is something that we cannot say thank you enough for,” said Beverly Santos, director of the food drive for the Hawaii Foodbank. “Other foodbanks across the nation are fortunate to have the support of the National Guard, unfortunately we don’t but to have the military presence here and the Soldiers being here is an added bonus.”
Santos was not the only one thankful for the opportunity for volunteers to help the local community. Soldiers like Pfc. Isaiah Jackson, from A Co., 2nd Batt., 35th Inf. Reg., 3rd BCT, 25th Inf. Div., is also thankful for the opportunity to volunteer allowing him to give back to communities and organizations that his family once needed.
“It was good seeing the people we had come through; they were really grateful for the food we were giving them.” said Jackson. “It was a really good feeling within myself, being able to help the comm¬¬unity around here.”
Jackson also said that it felt good to volunteer at the food drive because while growing up he and his family needed similar assistance and he felt like he was paying back to the community.
Santos summed up the day’s events:
“This is an unprecedented time for all of us, and to see the community come together to help those in need, we are just so moved by the compassion to have everyone here today helping those in need,” she said.
For more information on the food-drive and how you can volunteer, go to HawaiiFoodbank.org.
| Date Taken: | 05.19.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 12.15.2020 20:32 |
| Story ID: | 385078 |
| Location: | HONOLULU, HI, US |
| Web Views: | 55 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, 25 ID Soldiers aid community at food drive in response to pandemic, by CPT Angelo Mejia, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT