The Island Harvest Food Bank will help more than a hundred Long Island veterans and military families with food donations this Thanksgiving.
Volunteers handed out frozen turkeys and Thanksgiving trimmings to military members in Yaphank as part of Operation Hope.
Brenda Street, who served in the Air Force for nine years, says the food donations are a great help for cash-strapped veterans.
“I love to cook. I’ve always loved to cook. And I just didn’t want not to have anything for my daughter and I to eat.”
Island Harvest President Randi Shubin Dresner says she has mixed emotions about the long line of service members.
“One, I’m really honored and proud to be part of Island Harvest and working in partnership to be able to help our veterans. But I’m really sad that there are so many veterans particularly who are struggling to put food on the table.”
Dresner says Island Harvest distributes about 11 million pounds of food each year. Operation Hope is a special Island Harvest program dedicated to veterans and military families in need.
