Oceanside student donates ‘Veggies for Veterans’

“I’m so proud of that kid,” Ralph Esposito, director of the Nassau County Veterans Service Agency, said of Matthew Perez, an Oceanside Middle School student who distributed cans of vegetables at the county’s 25th Veterans Stand Down at the Freeport Armory on Nov. 22. “I had tears in my eyes when he said to me, ‘I look forward to this every year.’”

The Stand Down, sponsored by the Nassau County American Legion and the VSA, is an annual outreach program that assists homeless and needy veterans with food and clothing, and also provides services like dental care, haircuts, showers, eye exams and flu shots.

The Department of Social Services and the Department of Health and Human Services were on hand, as well as the New York State Department of Labor, Department of Veterans Affairs and the Division of Veterans’ Affairs. Nonprofits, including the Salvation Army and the American Red Cross, also attended.

Perez joined them, playing hookey on a Tuesday, but unlike most students who skip class, he had a legitimate excuse. The 13-year-old, who doled out 300 cans to veterans at last year’s event, collected 700 this year from family, friends and strangers during the last few months.

Perez’s grandfather, Joseph Haber, was a World War II veteran, and died before he was born. After a school assembly last year about fundraising, Perez realized he could make a difference, and chose to direct his efforts toward a personal cause.

“We’re all so proud of him,” said his mother, Adrienne. “He came home and said, ‘If they can do it, I can do it.’ He’s very creative, and that night he said, ‘Veggies for Veterans, that’s what I’m going to do.’”

For his second-year collection, Perez began sending emails to friends and family in early October, and helped his mother publicize his efforts on Facebook.

By stationing collection bins at Oceanside Middle School and outside his home, Perez obliterated his goal of 500 cans, and gathered 700 during the last two months to more than double last year’s tally. His mother said that Matthew’s former Boy Scout troop also contributed, and a family friend asked people to bring cans to their birthday party to help the cause.

Homelessness among veterans remains a problem throughout the state. In 2014, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reported that there were 2,542 homeless veterans across New York, with Long Island’s homeless vets accounting for 14.6 percent of that total.

Frank Colon Jr., a veteran and the commander of Rockville Centre American Legion Post 303, said he was impressed by Perez’s dedication to helping those in need, and said it is important for other children to follow in his footsteps. Colon said his post visits schools, including those in Oceanside, to teach flag etiquette to the students and talk about the sacrifices veterans made.

“We feel, as veterans, that the young people need to know everything about what a veteran does, and what he’s done for the country,” said Colon, who served in Germany from 1972 to 1994. “We’re losing that.”

As Perez stood behind one of the event’s many tables among a sea of cans — filled with anything from potatoes and corn to chick peas and green beans — his face radiated a smile as he handed them to former servicemen and women.

“It’s really fun to know that I’m doing something for the veterans in the community,” Perez said. “The moment I hand a veteran vegetables, my body just feels excited, because I love to give back to the veterans who served our country.”