@feedingamerica

class="content__text" Today is #ArmedForcesDay. Initially created in 1949 as a way to increased awareness of the Armed Forces it grew to expand public understanding of military jobs, the role of the military, and acknowledge the people of the Armed Forces of the United States. No one who served this country should struggle to feed their family. But that's the reality for many veterans, active-duty service members, and military families. 1 in 9 working-age veterans lived in food-insecure households, and 1 in 4 active-duty service members was food insecure in 2020. That's why Feeding America and people like Augie are here to help. “A lot of people don’t realize the struggles of veterans,” Augustine “Augie” Serrano explains, a retired Sergeant First Class after 22 years in the Army. Through a partnership with @feedhopenow , he develops relationships with homeless veterans, visiting with them and offering food and housing. “All kinds of circumstances bring them to be homeless,” he said. “My job is trying to reintegrate them back into the community.” Military service is mission-oriented, Augie said. But once soldiers leave that structure, they can feel directionless. “That’s the biggest trouble for us veterans: figuring out how we’re going to complete the mission,” he said. Through his street outreach to homeless veterans in the Orlando area, he tries to reestablish that sense of meaning through a new mission: recovery. “Recovery is something that is going to be for the rest of their life,” Augie said. “We start learning how to be a member of society again.” Augie knows not everyone is ready to begin their path to recovery, but he wants them to know he’s here for them. “If they reach out, my hand is here,” he said. #MilitaryAppreciationMonth

May 21, 2023