[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.91″ custom_padding=”0px|0px|0px|0px” next_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row custom_padding=”0px|0px|0px|0px” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_video admin_label=”Veterans PKG” _builder_version=”3.15″ src=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/1QS6o-dpGwA” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.92″ custom_padding=”2px|0px|37.9062px|0px” prev_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row custom_padding=”0px|0px|18.9531px|0px” custom_margin=”10px|||” _builder_version=”3.0.92″][et_pb_column type=”2_3″][et_pb_text admin_label=”News Story” _builder_version=”3.15″ custom_margin=”0px||0px|”]<\/p>\n
Harvest Hope Food Bank held a drive Wednesday at the McDonalds on Forest Drive to collect donations of non-perishable food, cleaning supplies, and clothes for \u201cOperation HP,\u201d\u00a0a program that assists homeless veterans.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Operation\u00a0HP, which stands for Hunger Prevention was started in 2016 by a grant given\u00a0to\u00a0the Department of Veteran Affairs\u00a0funded\u00a0by Walmart\u00a0i<\/span>n the\u00a0Upstate after the local branch of the company recognized the need to help the large population of homeless veterans in the area.<\/p>\n Flash forward two years and the Harvest Hope food bank in Columbia is providing food to \u201cover 1,100 veterans and their families every month,\u201d says Operation HP Coordinator Jacquelynn Conyers.<\/p>\n Ralph Medina, one of Wednesday’s donors, said he is is a veteran from the 82nd<\/sup>Airborne Division of the United States Army.<\/p>\n Medina, a fourth-generation war veteran, showed up with a trunk full of donations even though he learned of the drive only three hours earlier. \u00a0Medina says that giving back to \u201call who served in the military, no matter the branch, is a no-brainer.”<\/p>\n \u201cHaving served myself, I know that military people are the silent ones who don\u2019t want to ask for any help,\u201d\u00a0Medina said. But according to statistics from the South Carolina Interagency on Homelessness, homeless veterans need help.<\/p>\n While the population of South Carolina is only made up of 10.3% veterans, the homeless population in the state is made up of 12.8% of veterans. In the Midlands alone, over 49% of the homeless veterans are unsheltered compared to the average 27% of other groups of homeless people, according to the South Carolina Interagency on Homelessness.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Ralph Medina Image” show_in_lightbox=”on” show_bottom_space=”off” _builder_version=”3.15″ custom_margin=”||2px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”4px” box_shadow_vertical=”4px” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” force_fullwidth=”off” src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Veteran-Web-AMS.jpg”]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Ralph Medina Caption” _builder_version=”3.15″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px” text_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”8px|||2px” custom_padding=”|||” background_layout=”light”]<\/p>\n Ralph\u00a0Medina is a 4th generation Veteran. He served in the United States Army in the 82nd Airborne Division as a Combat Engineer<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image admin_label=”Truck of Food Image” show_in_lightbox=”on” show_bottom_space=”off” _builder_version=”3.15″ custom_margin=”||2px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”4px” box_shadow_vertical=”4px” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” force_fullwidth=”off” src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Truck-of-Food-.jpg”]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Truck of Food” _builder_version=”3.15″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px” text_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”8px|||2px” custom_padding=”|||” background_layout=”light”]<\/p>\n Operation Hunger Prevention received more than $1,000 of non-perishable food and cleaning supplies from the community<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Harvest Hope’s “Operation HP” hosted a drive to collect non-perishable food and cleaning supplies for the Veterans in the Midlands. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":12750,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[62,39,63],"tags":[96,218,105,217,216],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12573"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12573"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12599,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12573\/revisions\/12599"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}