UTICA, N.Y. -- The cold outside matches the cold inside, now that the "Feed Our Vets" organization has new freezers for its food pantry.
The Elks National Foundation awarded the Utica Elks Lodge a $1,500 grant to help "Feed Our Vets" buy two large freezers.
“The meat comes and goes rapidly. They have tremendous support from the Utica area community with donations of meat, but they were running into a shortage of space to store it effectively,” said Roger Kraus, with the Utica Elks.
“It's an aging population in Utica. We want these vets to eat healthier which will keep them healthy and out of the VA hospital, out of the hospital in general. It’s to keep the vets healthy,” said Rich Synek, with Feed Our Vets.
Since being established in 2009, Feed Our Vets in downtown Utica says it handed out more than 1 million pounds of food.
