Feed Our Vets Building Fund!!!!
Tax deductible
Save Feed Our Veterans Building Ashtabula, Ohio
Hello, my name is Tracy Bidwell, I am the Pantry Director of Feed Our Vets. I have started up a food pantry that helps serve veterans, their spouses and their children in Ashtabula County, Ohio. I have partnered up with a company from New York called Feed Our Vets. Feed our Vets is a 501 (c)(3) organization that was formed to feed strictly Veterans, their spouses and children. They feed all veterans and their families regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, age, disability or military status if they meet the financial requirements.
This program has helped many homeless and low-income veterans and their families. I interact with Veterans on daily basis and have witnesses their strong sense of pride on not wanting any handouts or anything for free. Working with our Veterans, I see how hard they work for us not to them suffering. I hear of them skipping to pay for their heart medications in order to buy two weeks’ worth of groceries or them buying their medications instead of eating. You wouldn’t notice on the outside they are hurting, until we see them out in the community, talking to their family members, or when you strike up a conservation with them outside the doctor’s office environment. All too often, we see the World War II Veteran who appear life is ok, but come to find out they are living on ramen noodles and bread the last two weeks of the month. They do not even have enough gas money to get to their next doctor appointment. Our Vietnam Veterans, OEF/OIF Veterans, and current Veterans serving already feel the lack of support and are bearing scars we cannot see, physically or emotionally. More often than not, veterans coming home feel isolated, have no support systems, feel like non-military personnel do not understand them, or have behavioral health issues. It is hard for them to stand in line at the normal pantries, looking over their shoulder or have a hard time with their backs to someone.
When newer veterans are around other veterans they are more relaxed and able to tolerate these issues better because it is another veteran watching their six/back. I understand that there are other resources, but they can only help so much. There are only a few resources solely for veterans. Feed Our Vets will be there regardless and the volunteers that they already know and are comfortable with. These are the men and women who have served and sacrificed everything for our freedoms.
Now that their tours are over, they are suffering on the battlefield of hunger.
Our job now is to fight for them and give them the basis need to survive. In Ashtabula County, Ohio, there are approximately 8,506 Veterans and approximately 800-1,000 of them are living in poverty and are fighting food insecurity. There is a new face of hunger in the U.S. and it's the American Veteran. Feed Our Vets is the only national organization Feeding America's Hungry Veterans. There were no issues or denials because we only feed Veterans. Just some quick stats from us: Feed Our Vets in Utica, New York has been feeding Veterans 10 years. Here are the numbers: Over 25,000 single veterans have been helped and just over 54,000 with spouses and children, 1,500,000 pounds of free food has been distributed worth over $2,890,000 and $132,000 in gift cards have been sent out. The pantry is run strictly on donations as we are a 501c3 nonprofit organization and we take zero profits doing this. This is all about the veterans and beating veteran’s hunger. I have been working on opening this pantry for almost two years now. We have a building now that we have put a lot of our own money into and others that have donated time and money. We were told that the first twelve months were covered because it was going to be a tax write off by the owner. We would not have to make any payments and then go from there, most likely continue the same way. Now, the owner states that he can not make this happen and cannot use as a tax write off. We must now buy it for $125,000 or we may have to leave if we do not accept it. The owner said that we could finance through him, but we make no money from this pantry due to being a 501c3 non-profit. This building is perfect for us and has had a lot of blood, sweet, and tears given to make this dream of mine ready in time. We have looked into grants and tried to have donations to help pay for the building, but most of the grants have closed for the year and we must wait too long before we can re-apply for the grants.
We have decided to make a GoFundMe page to see if we can raise the money to buy the building. We are a 100% non-profit and all the money raised are donations that go directly back into Feed Our Vets. We use the money we receive to buy more food, utilities, maintenance of the building, or equipment. We are just looking for help to continue to feed those that sacrificed so much for us. Our grand opening was Oct. 19th 2019 and we had 62 veterans shop at our building.
Hello, my name is Tracy Bidwell, I am the Pantry Director of Feed Our Vets. I have started up a food pantry that helps serve veterans, their spouses and their children in Ashtabula County, Ohio. I have partnered up with a company from New York called Feed Our Vets. Feed our Vets is a 501 (c)(3) organization that was formed to feed strictly Veterans, their spouses and children. They feed all veterans and their families regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, age, disability or military status if they meet the financial requirements.
This program has helped many homeless and low-income veterans and their families. I interact with Veterans on daily basis and have witnesses their strong sense of pride on not wanting any handouts or anything for free. Working with our Veterans, I see how hard they work for us not to them suffering. I hear of them skipping to pay for their heart medications in order to buy two weeks’ worth of groceries or them buying their medications instead of eating. You wouldn’t notice on the outside they are hurting, until we see them out in the community, talking to their family members, or when you strike up a conservation with them outside the doctor’s office environment. All too often, we see the World War II Veteran who appear life is ok, but come to find out they are living on ramen noodles and bread the last two weeks of the month. They do not even have enough gas money to get to their next doctor appointment. Our Vietnam Veterans, OEF/OIF Veterans, and current Veterans serving already feel the lack of support and are bearing scars we cannot see, physically or emotionally. More often than not, veterans coming home feel isolated, have no support systems, feel like non-military personnel do not understand them, or have behavioral health issues. It is hard for them to stand in line at the normal pantries, looking over their shoulder or have a hard time with their backs to someone.
When newer veterans are around other veterans they are more relaxed and able to tolerate these issues better because it is another veteran watching their six/back. I understand that there are other resources, but they can only help so much. There are only a few resources solely for veterans. Feed Our Vets will be there regardless and the volunteers that they already know and are comfortable with. These are the men and women who have served and sacrificed everything for our freedoms.
Now that their tours are over, they are suffering on the battlefield of hunger.
Our job now is to fight for them and give them the basis need to survive. In Ashtabula County, Ohio, there are approximately 8,506 Veterans and approximately 800-1,000 of them are living in poverty and are fighting food insecurity. There is a new face of hunger in the U.S. and it's the American Veteran. Feed Our Vets is the only national organization Feeding America's Hungry Veterans. There were no issues or denials because we only feed Veterans. Just some quick stats from us: Feed Our Vets in Utica, New York has been feeding Veterans 10 years. Here are the numbers: Over 25,000 single veterans have been helped and just over 54,000 with spouses and children, 1,500,000 pounds of free food has been distributed worth over $2,890,000 and $132,000 in gift cards have been sent out. The pantry is run strictly on donations as we are a 501c3 nonprofit organization and we take zero profits doing this. This is all about the veterans and beating veteran’s hunger. I have been working on opening this pantry for almost two years now. We have a building now that we have put a lot of our own money into and others that have donated time and money. We were told that the first twelve months were covered because it was going to be a tax write off by the owner. We would not have to make any payments and then go from there, most likely continue the same way. Now, the owner states that he can not make this happen and cannot use as a tax write off. We must now buy it for $125,000 or we may have to leave if we do not accept it. The owner said that we could finance through him, but we make no money from this pantry due to being a 501c3 non-profit. This building is perfect for us and has had a lot of blood, sweet, and tears given to make this dream of mine ready in time. We have looked into grants and tried to have donations to help pay for the building, but most of the grants have closed for the year and we must wait too long before we can re-apply for the grants.
We have decided to make a GoFundMe page to see if we can raise the money to buy the building. We are a 100% non-profit and all the money raised are donations that go directly back into Feed Our Vets. We use the money we receive to buy more food, utilities, maintenance of the building, or equipment. We are just looking for help to continue to feed those that sacrificed so much for us. Our grand opening was Oct. 19th 2019 and we had 62 veterans shop at our building.
Fundraising team: Scott Kessler (2)
Tracy Bidwell
Organizer
Ashtabula, OH
Feed Our Veterans
Beneficiary
ronald kessler
Team member