Soldiers’ Angels Hunger Relief Program will be hosting the inaugural Veteran Mobile Food Distribution on Friday, October 27th, 2017 at the Arcadia VA Clinic located at 250 North Arcadia Avenue, Decatur, Georgia, 30030. The event will provide food assistance to over 200 low-income, at-risk, and homeless veterans from the Atlanta Area. The distribution will be conducted in partnership with the Atlanta Community Food Bank.

To kick-off what will now be a monthly event, the Atlanta VA will be hosting a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony prior to the distribution. The ceremony will begin at 9:30 am and will feature: Dr. Anthony G. Cooper, PhD, Chief, Voluntary Service; Ms. Annette Walker, Director, Atlanta VA Health Care System; and Ms. Vicki Sarracino, Senior Director of Field Operations, Soldiers’ Angels.

Soldiers’ Angels Veteran Mobile Food Distributions have become a staple for the families served in other cities. Working with the local food banks at each location, the event provides approximately 50 pounds of food for the attending families. The food includes fresh fruits and vegetables as well as meats and non-perishables.

Typically, when introducing the event in a new city, Soldiers’ Angels has had to actively push for local veterans to register to receive the food assistance. On average, it would take the inaugural events around one month to fill to capacity. The response in Atlanta, however, was historic. The event was filled to capacity within 15 days, to include a full waitlist.

“We have been overwhelmed by the response from Atlanta veterans,” said Amy Palmer, President and CEO of Soldiers’ Angels. “In addition to the individuals that have registered to receive support at the event this week, we have had over 50 individuals provide us with their contact information in order to receive notices about future events.”

Cities such as Atlanta that have a high military presence also tend to have a high population of low-income veterans. Soldiers’ Angels recognized the need for this program in Atlanta after the huge success of the program in San Antonio, Texas, which also has a high population of low-income veterans.

“The program was created at the Soldiers’ Angels headquarters in San Antonio in September of 2015,” continues Palmer. “Although it took some time to get off the ground, the event has been held monthly and now, two years later, when we release the registration link to the 1200+ veterans interested in attending, the event is filled to capacity within forty five minutes. After the tremendous response we received from Atlanta veterans, we have no doubt that registering for the Atlanta event will soon be similarly competitive.”

Since many of the attending veterans have injuries, the distribution was designed to be completely drive-through and volunteers load the groceries into each car. If an attendee doesn’t have a car, they can walk through with a volunteer who will help them load a wagon with their groceries.