Posted on Mar 10, 2021
San Antonio Food Bank says demand from military community has more than doubled during the...
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In Military City U.S.A., the San Antonio Food Bank has always helped serve active duty military families and veterans needing its help, however, during the coronavirus pandemic, the need is even more apparent.
“Boy, it was surprising to go from 15% to 37%,” said Eric Cooper, the food bank’s president and CEO.
Accustomed to seeing military members in uniform helping to unload and distribute items at the food bank, Cooper said a recent encounter he had in the food bank’s lobby was a sobering moment.
“Hey, are you here to volunteer?” Cooper asked a man in uniform.
But the man was not at the food bank to help.
“He kind of hung his head and said, ‘No, I’m actually here to get food,’” Cooper said.
The Military Family Advisory Network in a recent study found that in Texas, one in six of those families were experiencing food insecurity and hunger.
“Boy, it was surprising to go from 15% to 37%,” said Eric Cooper, the food bank’s president and CEO.
Accustomed to seeing military members in uniform helping to unload and distribute items at the food bank, Cooper said a recent encounter he had in the food bank’s lobby was a sobering moment.
“Hey, are you here to volunteer?” Cooper asked a man in uniform.
But the man was not at the food bank to help.
“He kind of hung his head and said, ‘No, I’m actually here to get food,’” Cooper said.
The Military Family Advisory Network in a recent study found that in Texas, one in six of those families were experiencing food insecurity and hunger.
San Antonio Food Bank says demand from military community has more than doubled during the...
Posted from ksat.comPosted in these groups: 
San Antonio
Food/Chow
San Antonio Food/Chow
Posted >1 y ago
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Our food bank has lines as well, some are military but we maintain one on post so we have fewer in the community
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I'm conflicted on this as to why AD Service Members would need the services of a food bank. IMHO, if an AD Member needs to use the food bank to feed their family, then that Member should receive a mandatory deep dive from Command into their finances. While I can understand a Member running into financial difficulty due to unexpected problems such as a child with disabilities, exhaustive medical problems such as a vehicle accident, loss of spousal job, etc., I suspect that, just like in the Civilian Population, many AD Members claiming poverty are the same folks that have one or maybe even two nice cars and the payments that go with them, excessive credit card debt, all the latest in Tech gear and service fees, nice vacations (taken on the credit cards of course), etc. Saw a whole lot of that when I was AD. Military pay and benefits have advanced light years from what it was in previous generations. Also the article states "Military Community" which includes AD, Retired and former Military Members and other folks that have some attachment to "The Military Community" whether they actually served or not. I would like to see a report on only AD Members taken to determine exactly what the extent of the problem is with respect to AD.
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