South Carolina Post 195 steps up to provide grocery money for National Guardsmen activated following severe winter storm and reduced to relying solely on MREs.
A winter storm in late January dropped snow and ice amid frigid temperatures throughout the nation. That included South Carolina.
There, more than 350 personnel from The Military Department of South Carolina were activated during the last week of January to support Winter Storm Gianna operations. This included 21 personnel at Camden's Company C, 151st Expeditionary Signal Battalion, Army National Guard.
That company has an agreement with a local grocery store that provides food for the Guardsmen during their drills and emergencies. But when the snowstorm hit, the store closed early – and left the 21 Guardsmen with nothing but MREs.
And when word about their situation got back to Larry Jeffers American Legion Post 195 in Lugoff via another veterans service organization, the post’s American Legion Family quickly responded to help rectify the situation. As a result, the Guardsmen received hundreds of dollars in groceries to augment their MRE rations.
Post 195 Commander Ruppert Baird said Post 195 was made aware of the situation by Robert R. Larson Veterans of Foreign Wars Auxiliary Unit 11079 in nearby Elgin. “A number of our members are members of (VFW Post 11079),” Baird said. “We’ve done some things with them in the past. They asked if we could support this. We made a decision to support these guys.”
Post 195 ended up providing $600 to purchase groceries, while American Legion Auxiliary Unit 195 contributed another $100. The post reached out to a local Food Lion to ensure it was open. There, Post 195 Chief Charity Officer Cliff Turner and his wife, Unit 195 chaplain Dana Turner, met with Company C's Sgt. James Tavelle and Pfc. Brandon Elkins to provide the money to purchase groceries.
“Between the two organizations, we were able to stock these guys up for the duration of their call-up,” said Baird.
The decision to assist the Guardsmen was an easy one for the post. “They’re veterans. They’re soldiers, just like us,” he said. “We’re here to help our community.”
Assisting the Guardsmen also reminded Baird of something he had experienced when he was deploying to Kuwait in 1999 during a nearly 29-year career in the U.S. Army. He and two of his soldiers were traveling from Fort Stewart in Georgia to the airfield from where they were taking off, but because of delays when they got there all of the dining facilities were closed.
Baird ended up taking both of the soldiers out to dinner, where he paid for their dinners out of pocket. “They had to have dinner,” he said. “This is the same thing. These guys have been called up to assist South Carolina and the local population, and they need to eat. We have the money … and we’re going to help them out. It’s what we do.
“We do a lot for the local community. Supporting youth sports, the local high school, ROTC. Veterans. Local veterans organizations. We support the local Habit for Humanity, and so on and so forth. We have a good income stream, and we spend it on the community.”
And that includes assisting those who come to assist the community. “This was a no-brainer to us,” Baird said. “These guys are out there trying to help us. Help keep the roads clear or help people who are in distress. They were in distress, and we’re going to help them.”
- Troops