Soldiers’ Angels opened the year-round pantry as rising costs strain veterans and military families.
By Michael Cuviello
When money runs short before payday, Army veteran Karess Branch turns to Soldiers’ Angels for groceries to help feed her family.
“When I don’t have enough funds or enough outside support, it helps me make it through to the next paycheck,” Branch said.
Branch, who served as a unit supply specialist from 2006 to 2010, has received food assistance from the nonprofit for nearly two years. She has three children and two others she calls her “bonus kids,” and said the groceries are especially helpful when they come home from school hungry.
Soldiers’ Angels opened a year-round Dallas food pantry Thursday to give veterans and military families more frequent and flexible assistance as food and living costs rise.
The pantry at 8150 Brookriver Drive stocks fresh produce, frozen foods and shelf-stable items and operates three Thursdays each month. Unlike the organization’s monthly drive-through distributions, the pantry allows participants to choose groceries based on their household needs.
“It’s a wonderful option for them to be able to come and shop for the things they need,” Dallas-area director Thom Straley said.
The pantry expects to serve about 50 participants each day it operates and could expand its hours or add service days based on demand, Straley said.
The program is open to low-income veterans, active-duty service members, National Guard members and reservists. Participants must provide proof of military or veteran status and register in advance each month. Enrollment in Department of Veterans Affairs benefits is not required.
Many participants rely on disability compensation, Social Security or other fixed incomes that have not kept pace with rising costs, Straley said.
“The cost of everything continues to go up, but those stipends they receive are not keeping pace,” he said.
A U.S. Department of Agriculture study found that 12% of working-age veterans lived in food-insecure households from 2005 through 2019. After accounting for economic, demographic and geographic differences, researchers found veterans were 7.4% more likely than nonveterans to experience food insecurity.
The pantry expands a Soldiers’ Angels program that began holding monthly drive-through food distributions at Holy Cross Catholic Church in September 2023. About 200 people typically register for each event and receive 70 to 75 pounds of groceries, enough for up to two weeks of meals for a family of four, according to the organization.
Straley said a standard allotment does not fit every household. An older couple may take weeks to use the groceries, while the same amount may not last as long for a family with several children.
The pantry operates three times a month and lets participants select food their households will use. It also accommodates people without vehicles, including those who arrive by bus, motorized scooter or Dallas Area Rapid Transit’s paratransit service.
Straley, a veteran who joined Soldiers’ Angels in January 2024, said providing food is only part of the challenge. The organization must also persuade veterans accustomed to self-reliance to accept help.
Three donors covered the pantry’s startup costs. Soldiers’ Angels is working with North Texas businesses and community groups to organize food drives and keep its shelves stocked.
“During your time in the service, you learn to do without,” he said. “When you come up on hard times, the first thing you’re going to do is say, ‘I can do without so I can provide for the others in my household.’”
Bart Alvara understands that reluctance. The Navy veteran was volunteering with Soldiers’ Angels for the first time Thursday. Alvara joined the Navy after high school in 1998 and served six years, training in the nuclear field and working aboard a ship as a mechanic.
Alvara said veterans need to know where assistance is available and that seeking it will not cause others to look down on them.
“Veterans are the type of people that run toward danger, and they do that to stop it,” Alvara said.
Alvara, who owns a Helpful Heroes franchise in Garland, said volunteering allows him to continue the sense of service he carried from the military.
“I’m seeing people smile when they’re getting food,” he said. “I’m talking to people who know they’re going to go home and put hot meals on the plate for their family.”
For veterans such as Branch, the groceries can help carry a family through the final days before payday. Straley said the pantry is intended to ease that pressure while showing military households that their community cares.
“I want to take that worry off their plate,” he said. “Where is the next meal coming from? Will they have enough at the end of the month to eat?”
Michael Cuviello is a breaking news reporter for The Dallas Morning News. He previously reported for the Amarillo Globe-News, where he led on-the-ground coverage of the Smokehouse Creek fire, the largest wildfire in Texas history. A graduate of the University of Texas at El Paso, he served as the sports editor for the student publication, The Prospector. Cuviello is a combat veteran who served more than a decade in the military.
