Soldier On Kitchen Staff Worked Through Pandemic to Feed the Hungry
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The kitchen staff at Soldier On worked throughout the entirety of the pandemic and currently provides about 200 meals a day for those within and outside of the veterans facility.
In addition to the three meals that are served in house, the kitchen sends meals to Soldier On's Northampton location and to the homeless shelter at the former St. Joseph's School.
"We don't say 'no,'" Executive Director of Food Services Jason Stump said. "We never say 'no.'"
At the beginning of the pandemic, the organization stepped in to help at the Northampton Veterans Affairs center after its kitchen fell ill with COVID-19 and has been continuing that service since. Ovens and shipping containers were purchased to prepare and transport the extra meals.
Solider On veterans also helped set up the shelter at St. Joseph's and were asked to provide its meals. Stump said they provided all of the meals for about a year, slowed down for a period of time, and are currently ramping up operations again.
This work is all done by a handful of veterans who have found their passion in the kitchen, including Jeremy Gemmer and Ben Hamilton, who was featured in iBerkshire's Veteran Spotlight last year.
Gemmer has been cooking at Soldier On for about seven years and his specialty is Southern soul food. Hamilton, who has been there about four years, serves breakfast and says his cheese grits are a hot ticket item.
Some 20 to 30 meals are served in the facility for breakfast and about 40 are for lunch. Dinner is when the kitchen gets busy, with upwards of 50 meals going out to the veterans.
Gemmer explained that the pandemic has changed the way that meal planning is done.
"Before pandemic, we had more free-flowing menus and the fact that we would make it up the same day that we're doing, you know, the start the week, it's like, 'OK, this is the menu,' and I put it in the order, or [Stump] will put in the order whoever and we would just make it like that," he said.
"But now with the pandemic and everything, we're trying to keep things on a bit more of a schedule so we're not running for time or running for a delivery problem, we've got into a more structured menu on a four-week rotation."
Stump said he has had three veterans come through the kitchen and move on to do other things, including one who is now working in the kitchen at a nursing home. His staff has been a mixture of people with prior experience and those who were ready to learn a new life skill or possible career.
All cooks are ServSafe certified and trained for allergy awareness.
"When I first got here, it was kind of like, show guys how to do it and then make all the mistakes and learn all the good stuff here and then go out in the real world and you can find it," he explained.
"And then we kind of just kept rolling with what we were doing."
In the past, the kitchen has done a Christmas dinner for veterans in the Albany (N.Y.) County Jail and a neighborhood picnic at the Pittsfield facility. They also used to cook for the Berkshire Eagle Santa Fund.
Stump said local restaurants have been supportive of Soldier On by dropping off food, adding that they see a lot of support from the community and also give a lot back.
There are two Soldier On kitchens located in Pittsfield and in Agawam that employ formerly homeless veterans. More than 500 meals are provided weekly to veterans in the organization's housing in Chicopee, Leeds, Agawam, Pittsfield, and Brighton.
About 130,000 meals and snacks are distributed annually between the organization's two industrial kitchens by 15 formerly homeless veterans.
The Agawam kitchen has partnered with three day-care centers in the Springfield area to provide lunches and snacks, allowing Soldier On to hire more veterans to both prepare and transport the meals.
The Pittsfield location has two permanent housing facilities on site, the Gordon H. Mansfield Veterans Village and the Katie Doherty Veterans Village for women, and scattered housing units around the city.
Permanent housing at Soldier On includes on-site support, transportation, meals, legal assistance, and end-of-life services.
Of the 237 veterans who moved into Soldier On permanent housing since 2011, 39 have moved on and 147 are still in residence. The majority of those who have moved on have had successful outcomes.
Tags: veterans,
