JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas –
Sailors from the Navy Medicine Education, Training and Logistics Command at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston conducted a community outreach event at the San Antonio Food Bank June 11, helping process 15,433 pounds of food, which will help provide 12,346 meals for families suffering from hunger.
Fifteen NMETLC Sailors, in conjunction with other organizations, helped process the items.
“It was a lot of work, but it felt great to give back to the community,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class Christian Snyder from the NMETLC academics department. “When we finished, they announced the amount of food we processed and the families that will be helped. I was amazed by the benefits of our work.”
The NMETLC volunteers organized food and checked expirations dates on the donations SAFB received from their partners and the community.
“It’s only through the efforts of our volunteers that we can we achieve our mission of helping feed the hungry in San Antonio and southwest Texas,” said Phillip Kent, SAFB director of communications. “These food items will be distributed through our 500 partner agencies throughout our 16-county service area. We serve 58,000 individuals per week.”
After sorting the food, the NMETLC Sailor volunteers received a tour of the SAFB facilities. They were also briefed about the food bank's ongoing projects like the meals for seniors, backpack meals for kids, two second-chance programs for prisoners and the on-site farm SAFB started to provide self-sustaining products.
Snyder and the NMETLC volunteers seemed to gain as much for the outreach volunteer effort as SAFB and the community.
“Knowing that the food will reach far beyond San Antonio was surprising but very rewarding as well,” Snyder said.
The outreach event was part of the Navy’s Sailor 360, a command-level program for junior enlisted, senior enlisted and junior officers, designed to strengthen and develop leadership through outreach events, classroom discussions and physical training.