In its seventh year, the Uniting to Combat Hunger campaign already has provided more than 5.6 million meals to food-insecure families nationwide. VFW aligned with Humana in 2018 to establish Uniting to Combat Hunger.
The VFW Foundation is offering matching grants of up to $1,500 to help VFW Posts and Auxiliaries with the initiative. According to a press release, Humana employees this past year teamed with 158 VFW Posts and Auxiliaries in 41 states.
Volunteers pick corn during a United to Combat Hunger gleaning event on June 11, 2019, near Orlando, Florida. The VFW Foundation is offering matching grants of up to $1,500 to help VFW Posts and Auxiliaries with Uniting to Combat Hunger event. VFW PHOTOVFW Foundation Director of Donor Relations Richard Freiburghouse said that the Uniting to Combat Hunger campaign gives volunteers the opportunity to participate in community service.
“The Uniting to Combat Hunger program continues to make a difference in the lives of so many across the country, and the VFW Foundation wants to help those volunteers continue to assist those in need,” Freiburghouse said. “We are proud of what we have achieved. The VFW Foundation could not have done this without Humana and all the volunteers with the program.”
While Uniting to Combat Hunger still focuses on helping food-insecure Americans, a new initiative to combat veteran homelessness has been added. To tackle the issue, VFW and Humana are working with Volunteers of America, a nonprofit organization that assists homeless and low-income individuals.
John Keene, past-VFW Department of Colorado commander and member of Post 1 in Denver, Colorado, said that he encourages Posts, districts and departments to use Uniting to Combat Hunger grants to help homeless veterans.
“Over the past few years,” Keene said, “while traveling throughout Colorado as a Department officer, the most visible suffering I noticed in large and small communities was homelessness. Likewise, many of the homeless were seeking donations for food.”
According to Feeding America, 1-in-9 working-age veterans are food insecure and about 1-in-4 active-duty service members were food insecure in 2020. The organization reported that 1.2 million low-income veterans use the government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
For more details about the Uniting to Combat Hunger initiative and about VFW Foundation grants, visit vfw.org/UTCH.
This article is featured in the 2024 December issue of Checkpoint. If you're a VFW member and don't currently receive the VFW Checkpoint, please contact VFW magazine at magazine@vfw.org.