Community pantry helps N.S. veterans struggling with the high cost of living

A community pantry in Dartmouth has distributed almost 16,000 pounds of food to veterans in its first year.

Retired military veteran Jim Lowther and his wife Debbie opened the Veteran Community Pantry last year to provide food support to veterans and serving members of the Canadian Armed Forces and the RCMP.

“Our food pantry is setup a little bit differently, its setup as a grocery store model,” said Debbie. “Each veteran depending on their household size is given a number of credits per month and they can come in and grab a shopping cart and go through and shop.”

Debbie said the reason for the grocery store setup is to “maintain a sense of dignity” and to let the veterans choose what foods works for them and their family.

“It has been increasingly busy as time goes on. We have distributed almost 16,000 pounds of food and almost 6,000 of those have just been this year,” said Debbie.

Jim served in the military for 15 years. He says he wanted to help his fellow vets who were struggling mentally and financially.

“If you are struggling reach out because we can help you,” he said.

“It has been amazing and the veterans coming in you can tell they are nervous, but then they realize there is no judgment here. We see a big difference when they walk in the door and when they leave.”

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Mike Lamb

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