Together for our heroes: The South Texas Veterans Health Care System and San Antonio Food Bank unite, to end hunger!
Veterans fell in line to receive food from a distribution point located on the backside of the Audie L. Murphy Memorial Veterans Hospital parking lot, near the Community Living Center.
Volunteers and staff greeted them with warm smiles and gave them a variety of goodies to take home. An incredible 169 Veterans drove through various checkpoints, collecting food such as juicy tomatoes, delectable green peppers, bread, and even Mountain Dews for those who enjoy the dew in the morning.
What a delightful Saturday morning—it resembled a well-painted mural. A striking demonstration of people who genuinely enjoy giving to and supporting veterans, their families, and caregivers who can be seen through the driver's side window. Coming in through the Veterans' passenger side window, catchy music can be heard playing from the DJ table. Fall is approaching, and the trees surrounding the distribution center are turning orange. One woman in particular, the leader, hustled around to ensure, everything ran smoothly as bags were ruffling and boxes shaking and moving, the food distribution began.
ENCOURAGEMENT
Cristina V. Elizondo, who is the Food Security Program Coordinator (FSCP), aims to encourage and support healthy eating by promoting wholesome diets. While motivating people to eat organic foods, she devised an excellent plan to implement some of the initiatives in Fiscal Year 2025. One of her goals is to establish a garden at Audie L. Murphy and launch a garden-to-table initiative program. This will help to ensure our Veterans and caregivers have access to food.
“We're implementing fresh vegetables that we can pair with our healthy teaching kitchen classes for our low-income Veterans to provide low budget, healthy teaching kitchen classes,” Elizondo said. Building a garden together with our Veterans, will fight social isolation, and fostering relationships with other Veterans, which gives additional sources of inspiration.
The second part to Elizondo’s vision, is to find space and construct a pantry with a mini kitchen together. Having a food pantry on-site, along with the option to choose your own items, would be a huge asset for Veterans seeking food security, as well as creating a safe, judgment-free environment, in which Veterans could prepare a delicious meal using pantry items and garden vegetables. I can almost taste those roasted veggies from the aroma coming from her vision as I brisk walk to my VA appointment. Some Veterans face hurdles trying to get assistance for food.
“The big barrier is trying to connect them to or easing the process with SNAP application assistance,” Elizondo said.
Making the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), application available through Eligibility and Enrollment could be a golden opportunity to reduce hunger and improve enrollment among South Texas Veterans. Also, Feds Feed Families is a food drive partnership with SAFB, to collect donations from employees, federal employees, and other federal agencies across South Texas, as community support; hence those red SAFB cans sitting in the front entrance of some the wings in the hospital, but they can be found out in the communities. With Elizondo’s new role she has made an impact for Veterans lacking nourishment.
Her position as an FSCP started in June 2023. After months of preparation, recurring food distribution drives began in April 2024. Since the food drive's inception, over 978 Veterans, including families and caregivers, have experienced food security.
The event was wonderful! Veterans were overjoyed as they bopped to their vehicle's melodies and spoke with the chaplain on the way out, giving them a sense of being loved not only by their family but also by the STVHCS family, which is always available to assist when a crisis occurs. Elizondo's perceptiveness is astonishing, and it has the potential to help eliminate hunger, reduce loneliness, and cultivate friendships through cooking demonstrations in the future. She intends to organize this event once a month, so if you'll be in the San Antonio area and want to volunteer or seek assistance, keep an eye out for future updates. Nutrition and Food Services
“What I ultimately feel near and dear to my heart is, no hungry Veteran should be left behind.” “The ones that need it and deserve it the most is our nation's heroes,” Elizondo said!