It is not uncommon for Central Florida veterans to face food insecurity and other instability, including homelessness. One Second Harvest feeding partner, Veterans Helping Veterans of Marion County is dedicated to supporting veterans through periods of instability by providing case management, food and housing assistance, hygiene and clothing supplies and other wraparound services.
Veterans who are food insecure visit the organization’s food pantry once a month, following an appointment with their case manager.
The pantry provides veterans and their households with fresh meat, milk, eggs, produce and bread, as well as shelf-stable items like rice, cereal, beans, peanut butter and canned goods. Non-food items like hygiene care and cleaning products are also available.
Below you’ll hear about their connection to fighting food insecurity, and their service to their country and the community.
Meet: Juan, United States Marine Corps veteran who receives food from a Second Harvest feeding partner
How did you first receive food assistance?
“I got a referral from one of my friends in October of 2025. She was telling me exactly how Vets Helps Vets helps. I was homeless for a little bit. Unfortunately, my PTSD did get to me, and I got referred here. I came here on a limb, to be honest. It was hard to say the least because I was giving up on life. This place helped me out so much.
Pretty much anything and everything I could think about that I get in the store, I get here. It helps out a lot, and it’s one less thing I have to worry about.”
How does food assistance help veterans like you?
“It feels good to actually have a program like this. You guys make us feel like we’re actually worthy, that we did serve our country, and that other people are grateful for it.
The food that you guys have is really good. It’s really nutritious.
It takes a monkey off your back, and it helps out so much. I’m doing amazing now.”
What would you tell others to encourage them to help fight hunger?
“This program actually makes us feel like we’re special in a good way, and we do appreciate you guys in every way possible. We really do.
I went from feeling like I was hopeless to having hope.
As for me and the veterans that you help out, we really do appreciate you. And you have a big place in our hearts, seriously.”
Meet: Todd, United States Marine Corps veteran, and the Executive Director of Veterans Helping Veterans of Marion County, a Second Harvest feeding partner
How did you first become involved in the fight against hunger?
“I’ve been here since 2017. We assumed duties (of food pantry operations) in January 2025. We were helping about 100 families a month. Now, Veterans Helping Veterans services about 500 families a month.”
Why is it important to fight hunger?
“Nobody should be hungry. I know that’s the standard answer, but that’s it.
I’ve been homeless myself, so this is personal to me.
We don’t know who’s going to walk through our door from day to day. We’re reactive here, and everybody who walks through our door is hurting. Our objective is to take that hurt away as much as we can with the resources that we’ve been given, and we need to be good stewards with what we’ve been given.
It’s important for me, for us here at Veterans Helping Veterans, that hunger is stamped out. We need to do everything we can here. When you’re hungry, you’re hopeless. Sometimes hopelessness comes in many degrees, but when you have a full belly, sometimes that hope returns. You think that it’s going to be okay.”
What would you tell others to encourage them to support veterans experiencing hunger?
“We have families that come in with no hope. They vocalize that they don’t know what to do, and when you hear that, it’s heart-wrenching.
We’ve gone from (distributing) enough food for 2,000 meals a month to food for over 10,000 meals a month. It’s over a fivefold increase.
We want to make sure that they have the resources, they’re loved on, they’re surrounded. We call it wraparound services. Once they get into that place, they get on the pathway to success for that independent lifestyle.”
Meet: Cheri, a volunteer at Veterans Helping Veterans. Many of her immediate and extended family members have served in the military.
Cheri helps 15 – 20 veterans each day at the food pantry. She helps them select groceries to take home, learn simple cooking approaches, and shares emergency food bags. When she is not assisting veterans, Cheri stocks the pantry and even donates food.
Why is it important for you to fight hunger?
“I’m fighting for veterans.
We treat them with respect, and a lot of them are embarrassed that they need help. Don’t be.
One time we had a young man come in and kept saying, ‘I don’t know what to get. I don’t know what to get.’ He said, ‘I’ve been in jail for so long. I don’t know how to cook.’ I said, ‘Come on. Let’s start you out with the potatoes. Let me talk you through some of these things.”
What would you say to others to encourage them to fight hunger?
“What we’re trying to do is to keep them from getting kicked out of their homes and not starving, getting weak and getting sicker. If this (the food pantry) keeps you from being homeless, that’s what we’re going to do.
It makes a big difference. It really does.”
