“As long as I’m creating, I don’t worry about what I don’t have,” Van explains. “Every time you change your lifestyle, it’s like living a new life. I try to have as many as I can.”
Van recalls how he found his way to the South Shore Service Center, a welcoming hub located in Lindenhurst, New York. The center provides fresh food, pantry staples, and additional resources to veterans and others in the community, ensuring access to essentials with dignity and care. Supported by Long Island Cares, a Feeding America partner food bank, the South Shore Service Center plays a vital role in addressing food insecurity in the area.
“When my monthly pay wasn’t covering all my expenses, I decided to look for help. Someone mentioned a church nearby, and they gave me a list of places that could help. That’s how I found the South Shore Service Center,” he says.
“Every Tuesday, I know I can go there as a veteran and find what I need,” Van shares. “But I don’t take more than I need. At one point, they had the food already bagged, and I told them, ‘No, no, no, I only take what I need.’” For Van, it’s about making things work for himself and spreading that knowledge to others. “Everything I find out, I tell other people about it,” he says. “If I bring someone there and they sign up, I won’t bring them back. I tell them, ‘It’s up to you to come back. You’ve got to take responsibility for yourself.’”
Van reflects on his past and how far he has come. “I had a drug problem, and I was homeless,” he says. “I was driving
Supporting seniors’ access to food assistance in the IE
Riverside, CA – March 24th, 2026 – Feeding America Riverside | San Bernardino (FARSB) is proud to be part of Enterprise Mobility’s Fill Your Tank® Program, which is helping to end hunger by supporting local food banks. This incredible $50,000 from Feeding America, a key partner of the Fill Your Tank program, will provide resources critical to supporting the organization’s Nourish Now program that provides emergency, supplemental food box deliveries to homebound seniors and individuals in the Inland Empire (IE).
“Many older adults face difficult choices between basic needs like food, housing, and medication,” said Joanna Solorio, Interim Chief Executive Officer at FARSB. “Programs like Nourish Now ensure homebound seniors can receive nutritious food delivered directly to their door, helping them stay healthy and independent,” Solorio continued.
Nearly 7 million seniors age 60 and older—1 in 11 seniors—were food insecure in 2022, an increase of approximately 25% from 2021, consistent with USDA reports of rising food insecurity across most populations. Nourish Now was established in 2020 to provide seniors and homebound individuals with food deliveries during the stay-at-home mandate, but has continued as the need remained.
Through this program, the local food bank can continue to provide emergency, supplemental food box deliveries to those without access to transportation or who are homebound due to physical illness or disability.
As part of the Fill Your Tank program, the Enterprise Mobility Foundation has committed $30M through 2030 to Feeding America. This funding will support critical hunger-relief resources for senior neighbors in need through programs like Nourish Now.
For more information about FARSB’s hunger-relief efforts, please visit www.FeedingIE.org
