River Valley Regional Food Bank honors veterans with giveaway

Nov. 19—Honoring those who served, the River Valley Regional Food Bank is hosting a special Thanksgiving giveaway for veterans.

The distribution will be 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., or while supplies last, on Saturday, Nov. 20, at the River Valley Regional Food Bank location at 1617 South Zero St. in Fort Smith.

"One of the things I absolutely love about this day is my dad is a veteran, I have a lot of veterans in my family, a lot of my uncles are veterans," said Tracy Engel, director of the River Valley Regional Food Bank. "It's a big impact on the community because a lot of these veterans, they've served their country, they've given back, and especially our older veterans, they need to still feel appreciated to this day because we're able to do what we do because of the freedoms they allowed us to have."

The giveaway was made possible through a grant from Feeding America, the largest domestic hunger-relief organization.

With each box, veterans will receive half of a ham, a turkey and a box of pantry items including canned vegetables, apple pie filling, stuffing mix and more.

Veterans must be present in order to receive food and must provide valid military identification or their DD214 form. Veterans are asked to park their vehicles, approach the registration tent prior to receiving food.

The Combat Veterans of Arkansas, Chapter 7-3 will distribute the boxes to veterans.

Prominent state and local leaders will be in attendance, including U.S. Sen. John Boozman, Arkansas District 78 State Rep. Jay Richardson, Greenwood Mayor Doug Kinslow, Mulberry Mayor Gary Baxter and others.

Catherine Nolte is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. She can be reached at cnolte@swtimes.com. Southwest Times Record and Report for America are working to place a new generation of journalists in community news organizations across the country. Will you support this effort today?

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