'Without this, half of the veterans would starve': Veterans Inc.'s Holiday Harvest Tuesday

WORCESTER – From under the visor of a U.S. Navy cap, Dan Donovan’s eyes wandered about the main hall of Veterans Inc. as smiling military veterans stood up one by one to be assigned a shopping cart and to start their collection of a turkey, fixings and vegetables.

Donovan, 54, was one of the 500 veterans and their families who stopped at 69 Grove St. Tuesday morning to pick up his share of Thanksgiving classics at an annual donation effort which Veterans Inc. coins as Holiday Harvest.

Throughout the morning, Donovan’s gaze sometimes dropped for a quick look at his right hand, where a piece of paper with his queue number was nested between his thumb and palm as he stood at the edges of the waiting area in the center of the hall.

Deployed to the Persian Gulf in the early 1990s, Donovan said that he recognized some of the other servicemen, whom he greeted with a handshake and a few words.

But even if he didn’t recognize them, even if they were of a different branch of the military, Donovan said there was always something in common to talk about.

“I feel that when I came here, I was more open to talking to people,” said Donovan, of Clinton. “It felt like getting back in high school again.”

Circumventing the edges of the square waiting area, a chain of shopping carts moved slowly along stands starting at 10 a.m. as veterans walked behind a mound of freshly bagged vegetables, canned foods or even the taut bundle of a hefty turkey.

Two bakery stands, three fixings stands, three vegetable stands and finally a few with turkeys, were among the choices for the veterans, who were often accompanied by one of the 110 volunteers at the drive Tuesday.

A representative for Veterans Inc. said the drive served about 8,000 pounds of produce and about 700 turkeys, all through donations provided by businesses such as TJX Companies, Walmart, Chase Bank and others.

Lisa McBrine, of Milford, New Hampshire, helped a U.S. Army veteran, Jim Ferland, who served in the 1970s, sometimes bagging some produce, other times helping carry the bags.

The daughter of a Vietnam War veteran, McBrine hugged Ferland at the end of the line before he left with the cart towards his car.

“They gave everything for us and I want to do everything I can to give back,” said McBrine. “I connected with him while we were walking. Hugging him felt just right and I wanted to wish him a happy Thanksgiving.”

John “Bootsie” Boudreau, a 70-year-old U.S. Army veteran of 26 years, who described his deployment to Vietnam as “fixing helicopters”, spoke frankly about the efforts of the donation drive and the reality of the lives of veterans.

He attends the Holiday Harvest at Veterans Inc. every year.

This year he got a turkey, some bread, some celery and some sweets.

“Without this, half of the veterans would starve,” said Boudreau. “They’re doing a very good thing here.

“Vietnam veterans are the ones losing the most and they're just trying to get ahead. They’re trying to get help.”

Attending the event were also Worcester County Sheriff Lew Evangelidis and state Sen. Robyn K. Kennedy, who helped fill the veterans’ carts.

Denis Leary, the executive director of Veterans Inc., said the drive, which has been held for 28 years, is a “thank you” to veterans and their families.

“The important thing to not lose sight of is that for every veteran that’s deployed, a family in many ways, is deployed,” said Leary, who has been at his position for 24 years. “The family that the veteran leaves the entire time during the deployment are on pins and needles, worried about their loved ones.

“We should be thanking them really because all they've actually sacrificed a lot as well.”

Leary also stressed the importance of focusing on helping veterans dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, a problem that he still sees rampant in the community.

“We're going to expand to keep pace with the needs for the veterans community,” said Leary. “We want to be on the vanguard of delivery services that match the current needs.

“Whether homeless, at risk of homeless, homelessness or really looking for employment and training, better housing.”

Veterans Inc. was established in 1990 by a group of Vietnam War veterans.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Veterans Inc.'s Holiday Harvest feeds veterans' bellies, hearts