Food Network star on how to help vets year-round

If you really want to help those who served their country on Veterans Day, commit to caring for them all year round. That’s the guidance from celebrity chef Robert Irvine who runs his own foundation for service members.

If you really want to help those who served their country on Veterans Day, commit to caring for them all year round. That’s the guidance from celebrity chef Robert Irvine who runs his own foundation for service members. Irvine is a veteran of the British Royal Navy and hosts his own show on Food Network. (Food Network and CNN are both divisions of Warner Bros. Discovery.) He suggests several ways to assist veterans throughout the year. Many military members and veterans rely on food banks, since as many as one in four active duty men and women are food insecure. About one in five military and veteran families struggle with food insecurity. Irvine says volunteering in a food bank – and making the time while you’re there to sit down and actually talk to a veteran – is a great way to thank people for their service. “When you put a meal in front of somebody, it drops the barriers down,” he says. Other places where you can have one-on-one conservations with vets include churches and VA hospitals. Irvine says you could volunteer at the USO or even just sit in the lobby of a VA hospital and offer to talk to anyone who might be lonely. You could even just google “veteran groups in my area” and offer to volunteer with them.