NAHANT – On a rainy Tuesday morning, veterans drove by Nahant Town Hall to get their free fresh groceries. It is a recurring monthly event for Nahant veterans, their families, widows, and spouses.
“We have shopping bags that are donated, and we pack the bags full of all the nutritional food, protein food, vegetables, and fruits,” said Jon Lazar, a Veterans Services officer in the Town of Nahant.
The Nahant Veterans Services partnered with the City of Chelsea, the Town of Winthrop, and the City of Revere. Around 7:30 a.m., a team from Nahant Veterans Services went off to the American Legion in Revere along with a truck from the Nahant Department of Public Works (DPW). The Nahant DPW also provided a couple of workers to help load food.
The Greater Boston Food Bank sponsors the food and the overall program. The American Legion, the American Legion Auxiliary Group, and the Council on Aging senior group support the events, to which Lazar says that they couldn’t do the events without the help from these supporters.
“It’s for veterans and our veterans, families, widows spouses, and it’s just to help them take the edge off of some of their grocery bills,” said Lazar. There is no requirement to join the event, as long as one member of the family is a Nahant veteran.
Surveys are conducted on the first Wednesday of every month by the Nahant Veterans Services to improve this program. Before Covid, there were between 60-70 veterans on the list. “They used to all come in here. They’d line up, go around the table and pick what they wanted,” Lazar recalled. Currently, 40 veterans are on the list for the food market. According to Lazar, many people on the list are on a fixed income, and most are 65 or older. This program will benefit elderly veterans.
