Operation Stand Down brings season of giving home to veterans

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With the holidays upon us, the community, volunteers and staff at Operation Stand Down Rhode Island (OSDRI) are working in overdrive to ensure that veterans in need of assistance get the help they need.

In July, the pantry shelves at OSDRI were nearly bare. With the summer in full swing, there was a lack of recent donations, and food stocks fell to dangerously low levels. Once the word got out that donations were needed, however, the community answered in a big way and entirely filled the pantry in about a week’s time. Much has improved since then.

“It’s been good, it’s been really good. There was a lot of support from the community, and it kind of built upon that turnout from the summer. So people have really kept following up on that and we’re well stocked,” said SDRI’s Executive Director Erik Wallin.

In an effort to keep supplies from dwindling again, members of the public, schools, organizations and businesses have continued to step up and provide for veterans.

Last week was a big one for OSDRI for food donations. Beacon Mutual Insurance Company donated a over 2,800 pounds of, National Grid donated a full truck full of supplies, and the students at Moses Brown School came in a car convoy of donated food.

“Beacon Mutual just dropped off a huge donation of food, almost 3,000 pounds of food, which was immediately followed by National Grid that made a great dropoff of food, as did Moses Brown, and we thank them all,” said Wallin. “Right now we’re in the middle of our Thanksgiving basket drive, so we’re trying to collect as much of the preparations for Thanksgiving as we can. We’re culling that from our already existing donations.”

Starting today, OSDRI will assemble the baskets to be distributed to nearly 75 residents at the organization. Thanks to the community’s generosity, OSDRI will distribute another approximately 25 baskets to veterans throughout the community.

On Friday OSDRI also celebrated the third year of Operation Keep ’em Warm, which took place at the Providence VA Medical Center and was a huge success. The organization gave away coats, gloves, hats, blankets and toiletries to homeless and low-income veterans, and more than 100 coats along with cold weather gear that was donated by the community was given away.

“We bring clothing that will keep our veterans warm, including sweatshirts, jeans, blankets, along with personal hygiene products,” said Wallin. “It’s an opportunity for us to reach out to the most needy in our veteran community, which are really those who tend to visit the homeless clinic at the VA.”

Wallin said this time of year can be particularly difficult for veterans as many are separated from their families.

“Unfortunately, we have veterans that are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or other mental health issues, and a lot of them had difficulties with their families and are alone during the holidays,” he said. “We always have to keep an eye out for signs of depression and try to, as best we can, give them the spirit of the holidays.”

OSDRI is an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and Rhode Island’s primary nonprofit resource for homeless and at-risk veterans. While their mission is to help homeless and at risk veterans secure stable housing, they also go above and beyond for veteran families.

“We have a good number of kids that live in our properties that we try to give toys to. We distribute a lot of toys to the veterans in the community in need as well,” said Wallin. “Veterans can come in and pick out donated items to give to their kids.”

The rental market is extremely tight in Rhode Island currently, and even with vouchers for housing for vets provided by the VA they still struggle. OSDRI also has financial assistance that can be given to veterans that qualify.

“But even with vouchers and financial assistance, it’s difficult for veterans to find housing in this market,” said Wallin. “It’s a struggle, and even the utility costs are much higher right now.”

To help veterans with those utility costs, the Diocese of Providence provided a generous donation of $5,000 to OSDRI to provide heating assistance to veterans. This donation was a part of the Diocese “Keep the Heat On” program and presented by Bishop Thomas Tobin.

“Sometime veterans aren’t eligible for other means of assistance, or the bureaucracy of the paperwork can get in the way and delay getting them the assistance they need,” said Wallin. “With the donation we received from the Dioceses, we can get that delivery of oil into the tank quicker while they wait for their application for heating assistance to be approved.”

For the upcoming holidays, OSDRI encourages the community to drop off gift cards for veterans to use that will be collected until December 17. As financial struggles and stress tend to rise at this time of year, gift card donations will be used to help veteran families who are in need of that extra help this holiday season. Wallin said that donations of this kind help families with that financial stress, while maintaining a sense of pride by having the ability to shop for loved ones on their own.

“Along with toys, food and gift donations, which are needed, we’d like to be able to provide a gift card along with those items that we’re able to hand out,” said Wallin. “So if there is something a child particularly wanted and the veteran parent can’t get them for the kids they may be able to do that.”

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