(upbeat music) Recently, I had a conversation at the Veterans Health Fair that took place in Newark, New Jersey at Branch Book Park.

I was talking to all kinds of people who are engaged in advocacy for our veterans, and one of 'em is Michael Giunta, who is the founder of Feeding Our Heroes.

Feeding Our Heroes is one of the sponsors of this terrific event in Newark, New Jersey.

Feeding our Heroes has worked in food insecurity issues for our New Jersey veterans.

It's just, food insecurity is one of the many health related issues our veterans face.

So Michael Giunta, one-on-one, on location at the Veterans Health Fair.

- Michael, great to have you with us.

- Thank you.

Thank you.

- Tell us what Feeding Our Heroes is, and why today?

- Okay.

Today's a big event for us.

This is the kickoff of 10 events from Bergen County all the way down to Burlington County.

So we did this last year and it just grew to this.

We had 12 tables set up last year, now we have over 50 tables.

People just wanted to join in with us.

I go back four years ago, I was "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives", I was the pilot show.

So Guy Fieri is a good friend of mine, right?

- So it starts small.

- Oh yeah.

- And then this?

- This is it, man.

I mean, look at this.

I mean, in one year, okay?

So we started back in 2021, Guy Fieri flew in, we did this big event, and then people started hearing about us.

I funded this myself for two years until my partner, the biggest partner we have, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Braven Health.

I mean an absolute great sponsor.

They joined in with me.

They believed in what I believed in.

- But tell folks with Feeding Our Heroes is.

(Michael laughs) - So we go around and we feed the veterans, veterans and first responders, okay?

So we don't want anyone to go hungry.

And there's a lot of veterans out there that served for our freedom, and they're going hungry on a daily basis.

So Guy again called me up, he's doing it on the West Coast.

He says, "Mike, you gotta be the ambassador on the East Coast, and I need you to do this in a big way."

And when I do things, I do it really big.

- [Steve] Clearly.

- Yeah, I do, you know?

- Mike, help us understand this.

- Yeah.

How would a veteran communicate with Feeding our Heroes?

Tell them, or put the website up right now and what specific service could they get, even if they weren't, or they're watching right now, but they're not here at Branch Brook Park.

So yeah, it's feedingourheroes.org - [Steve] Right.

- You can go on there.

We have a volunteer list up there.

You can sign up.

And how they get ahold of us is just go on the website.

Now, the services?

- Mortgages for veterans, mental health awareness.

Big thing in the veteran community, right?

So we bring in all kind of tables, all right?

Now we've added another health piece.

You can come here, get your blood pressure, pulmonology tests, anything you want.

We're doing a mammography test for women.

- [Steve] I know.

- 'Cause in the veterans' community, they don't offer mammographies, right?

But as you could look around here, we got employment for the veterans.

We have all kind of service, the Veterans Chamber of Commerce, you know?

Latino veterans.

We bring everybody in here, in one room.

So all you gotta do is come here, see all this, sign up, and you get a great meal from Feeding Our Heroes.

'Cause that's what we do.

We start early in the morning.

- [Steve] Right.

- We bring the fresh food out here and we feed everybody.

- So like a, based on what you're saying, based on this today, this terrific event, this health fair, Veterans Health Fair in Branch Brook Park in Newark, New Jersey, there's no reason for a veteran to go hungry.

- No, not at all.

I'm telling you like, we're just privileged to do this.

You know, I'm a first responder.

I'm also a a Newark firefighter for 26 years, right?

- Thank you for your service on both ends, go ahead.

- Appreciate that.

Thank you.

But it's just what we do.

I mean, we love doing it, you know?

The Guy Fieri Foundation, you know, he's involved with me.

We're also, we're involved with Tunnel to Towers now for the veterans, right?

- We just did a feature with their CEO there.

- [Michael] Oh.

- Frank's the best.

- He is.

Great guy, right?

So we're bringing up a rescue trailer in Florida that Guy built.

$300,000 trailer.

And we're gonna feed all the veterans and the first responders that run in the Tunnel to Towers, come September.

- One to ten.

I know you're a guy that is very passionate.

You told me you were born, by the way, this is a, he's laughing 'cause he knows.

Right around the corner, there's a little place called Stephen Crane Village.

Stephen Crane was a writer in Newark.

They named it Stephen Crane Village.

It's where a lot of folks grew up, including my parents were married and lived there.

It's a tough neighborhood, it's a passionate neighborhood.

- Yeah.

- And the fact that it's right around the corner and you're right here doing this, one to ten, level of passion for what you do.

- 15.

- Way past 10.

- Way past 10.

I'm telling you, listen, we get up and do this.

We love doing it and we're gonna keep doing it as long as I can.

What we need now is we gotta have some more outreach, right?

We need some strategic partners to help us out.

Like I said, self-funded for two years.

- [Steve] Sure.

- Braven stepped in.

But now we need, we need collectively, we need more people involved.

- Big reason why we're here trying to get the word out.

Public awareness, public education about veterans, their needs, nutritional needs, healthcare needs.

- All their needs.

That is why this health fair is so important.

- Absolutely.

- Michael, thank you for everything.

- Thank you, appreciate it.

- Appreciate it.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

PSE&G.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

The Turrell Fund, a foundation serving children.

The North Ward Center.

Johnson & Johnson.

NJ Best, New Jersey’s five-two-nine college savings plan.

NJM Insurance Group.

And by The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Promotional support provided by CIANJ, and Commerce Magazine.

And by ROI-NJ.

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