Helping military veterans connect to needed services

At the Laid Back Festival on July 23 at the Jones Beach Theater, Syd Mandelbaum was set up at a Rock and Wrap it Up! booth for the Cedarhurst-based, anti-poverty think tank he founded 26 years ago.

With tickets donated by Live Nation, veterans shared their life after the military stories with Mandelbaum. Experiences that include having difficulty ensuring they are eating meals on a regular basis due to unemployment, poverty and a lack of support networks, according to the National Coalition of Homeless Veterans. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reports that more than one in every 10 who were homeless in 2015 was a veteran.

“I had an a-ha moment,” said Mandelbaum, a Cedarhurst resident. “It occurred to me that if we just added a very simple sector, Feed The Veterans, it could really help a huge cohort of people.” An Air Force veteran and commander of the Lawrence-Cedarhurst American Legion Post 339, Mandelbaum works with the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars to introduce veterans to agencies that can support them.

Feed The Veterans, now a month old, is an ancillary group of Rock and Wrap it Up! that connects veterans, their caregivers and families with national agencies who advocate for them using Hungerpedia, a database compiled over the last six years by Rock and Wrap it Up! that highlights pantries and soup kitchens around the country to keep the lines of communication open between donors and those in need.

In addition, Mandelbaum wants other states to pass a law that he helped write, which was approved in Tennessee that requires federal buildings to donate their unused food to anti-hunger agencies. Similar to what Rock and Wrap It Up! does as it collects unused food from rock concerts and sporting events.

Ralph Esposito, director of the Veterans Service Agency (VSA) of Nassau County, said that more than 67,000 veterans are registered in the county. Veterans are eligible for certain benefits that include food, medical and mental assistance. “We don’t only give them medical care, we try to find work for them if they want it,” Esposito said, “The majority of them get taken care of very well.”

VSA has a Veterans Administration Hospital in Northport at 79 Middleville Road and a health clinic in East Meadow at 2201 Hempstead Turnpike in Building Q. The Nassau Vet Center is located in Hicksville at 970 South Broadway and a Valley Stream clinic for veterans is at 99 South Central Avenue. Volunteer drivers pick up vets at their homes to bring them to any of the facilities if they are unable to get there on their own.

“The key is that we already have this amazing database, but not enough caregivers understand the value of this; it’s not just veterans, but their families who need support,” Mandelbaum said.

The Jones Beach Theater partnered with Rock and Wrap It Up! to donate the unused food from backstage in 1991. The Detroit Tigers were the first team to sign on and offer their leftover clubhouse food in 2003. The New York Giants were the first professional team to donate all the unused food from their stadium two years later. The Jets, Mets and Yankees followed suit. The entire National Hockey League contributes the food that does not sell in their arenas.

“Our program is based on our partnership with anti-hunger agencies who are vetted by us to recover the food themselves and tell us through software how much was collected,” Mandelbaum said. Agencies must meet certain criteria, such as a health certificate and appropriate storage capabilities, to work with the organization.