Thursday, April 24, 2025
The Mitchel Field commissary in Garden City has been closed since early July with structural damage, leaving some 80,000 veterans on Long Island with no choice but to travel to Fort Hamilton, in Brooklyn, to avail themselves of commissary services.
Commissaries provide veterans, active-duty and retired military personnel — many of whom live on fixed incomes — with a way to shop for groceries at a discount, with savings of up to 30 percent off compared with conventional supermarkets.
Kerry Englander, commander of the Nassau County American Legion, emphasized the challenges created by the sudden closure and the importance of the services the commissary provided.
“The veterans and current military need this facility, especially with the economy the way it is today,” Englander said. “I believe that if the military and veterans are utilizing this facility, it should be opened up.”
Frank Colón Jr., commander of American Legion Post 303 in Rockville Centre, said that by closing the commissary, the Department of Defense has created a major inconvenience for Long Island veterans, many of whom cannot travel to Fort Hamilton.
“It’s a hardship on the veterans. Especially in these times,” Colón told the Herald. “It shouldn’t be like that. You’ve got veterans from Suffolk and Nassau County that go here. You think a guy from Suffolk County is going all the way to Fort Hamilton? It’s a hike.”
John Meyer, of American Legion Post 246 in Baldwin, said he has been using the Mitchel Field commissary for the past 20 years because the “prices are right.”
“It’s one of the few benefits that we get,” Meyer said. “This (facility) is for the veterans, especially the ones who are retired and did their time, and come here to get a third off of what they pay outside.”
He explained how at one point, it was restricted to only disabled or recently retired military servicemen and women. However, this has changed in recent years, opening up access to provide services to more veterans on Long Island.
“This is a godsend,” Meyer said. “For most people, this is the ideal place because it’s close to mid-Island. And with this closed, everybody’s got to go to Fort Hamilton. That’s another 27 miles down the road. I used to work in Coney Island for transit. I’m not going down there for nothing.”
Ralph Esposito, director of the Nassau County Veterans Service Agency, noted the impact of the commissary’s sudden closure. “It’s a good place to go,” he said. “It saves vets lots of money. Right now, it’s hurting the veterans.” He also mentioned the increasing demand at the Veterans Food Pantry, known as Vet Mart, which has been in operation near Nassau University Medical Center since 2015.
“Because it’s closed, our numbers are getting bigger,” Esposito said. “I give away food for free, so now they’re all coming to me.”
The Vet Mart feeds about 600 people a month, including veterans and their families. The pantry also relies on volunteers, who deliver food to those unable to get to the offices in East Meadow.
In response to speculation that the facility could remain closed until early 2025, U.S. Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, County Executive Bruce Blakeman, and representatives of Congressman Andrew Garbarino, Nick LaLota and Tom Suozzi rallied alongside local veterans outside the Garden City facility last week to demand that the Defense Department do everything in its power to expedite the repair and provide a clear-cut timeline for when they expect it to reopen.
“I am demanding that we have the Department of Defense answer our questions immediately,” D’Esposito said. “Leaving our local veteran community in the dark over the future of this commissary is wrong, and we will not stand for it.”
Blakeman added that food insecurity has been a priority of his administration. “Nassau County will work with Long Island Cares and Island Harvest to make sure that we can get food for our veterans,” he said.
