40% of NY veterans need food assistance

Via CBS New York:

Veterans are returning to New York City from their service only to be faced with going hungry, the head a city food bank said.

As WCBS 880′s Monica Miller reported, Margarette Purvis, president and CEO of the Food Bank for New York City, tried to raise awareness about the plight of former service members during a speech in the Bronx on Sunday.

“On this Veterans Day, when we’re waving our flags — I need every New Yorker to know — 40 percent of New York City veterans are relying on soup kitchens and pantries,” Purvis said.

That amounts to 95,000 people.

“That is not a guesstimate; that is a fact,” she said.

In related news, President Obama emphasized his support for veterans during his remarks at Arlington National Cemetery this morning. “That’s what we do in America. We take care of our own. We take care of our veterans."