Hy-Vee is offering free breakfast for veterans and active-duty service members on Wednesday, May 20, from 6am to
10am. But that’s not all; Hy-Vee is recognizing veterans and active-duty service members throughout May with initiatives like the Homefront Round Up campaign, free coffee Wednesdays, and care packages for service members.
KDWA connected with Hy-Vee spokesperson Zach Tecklenburg for an overview of these efforts and the impact the Hy-Vee corporation hopes they’ll have.
“Yeah, so the Hy-Vee Home Fund Initiative is really Hy-Vee’s big, organized way of paying tribute to the men and women who have served our country in the past and those who are still active-duty service members. We do a lot throughout the year to support those efforts with several different nonprofits that benefit from our roundup campaigns, but what we’re here to talk about today, the most immediate thing, is our free veterans breakfast that is happening Wednesday from 6am until 10am in all of our Hy-Vee store locations that have hot food service, and that is very much similar to our Veterans Day breakfast, which we do on Veterans Day every single year, which we’ve been doing for more than 25 years now, and it’s simple: if you’re a veteran, you get to have a free buffet-style breakfast, and that includes all the things that you’re used to seeing with a good hearty breakfast meal, eggs, different types of meat, biscuits, and gravy, and it varies a little bit from location to location, but we can 100% guarantee that you will not leave hungry.”
Absolutely. And you know, beyond Military Appreciation Month, how does Hy-Vee continue supporting and honoring veterans, active-duty service members, and their families year-round?
“So you’re right,” says Tecklenburg. “This month, especially, we are paying tribute to our veterans and active duty service members, but we do do lots of different things throughout the year, and that is through, like, roundups that we do. When you go to the checkout, you can have the option to round up your purchase to the nearest dollar, and those benefit several different organizations that serve our veterans and our active duty military members, including Puppy Jake Foundation, which partners veterans with dogs to be trained as service animals. And new this year, we are actually partnering with the National Honor Flight Organization to help send men and women who have served in all sorts of different capacities out to Washington, DC, to see the monuments that were built in their honor. So that’s something new that we’re doing this year.”
Sounds amazing. Was there anything that sparked that new initiative?
“We’re just always looking for new ways that we can say thank you to the men and women who have served this country, and we know that there’s always a need; there’s always a demand for veterans who want to go out to Washington, DC, and for one reason or another, it’s difficult for them to make it out there on their own.” Tecklenburg continues, “I’ve actually had the opportunity to go out on one of these honor flights that was sponsored by Hy-Vee, and it’s just amazing to see the impact that these veterans get. They get the closure when they, when they return, a lot of them, especially Vietnam veterans, did not get the thanks that they deserved when they returned home from active duty service, and this makes it right, you know. This is something that really brings closure to a lot of them.”
Absolutely. Why is it important for Hy-Vee to recognize both the military community and the veterans and service members who are a part of the Hy-Vee workforce?
“Just because it’s the right thing to do, you know, these are people who have given so much to help serve our country, and we’re always looking for ways that we can amplify and support people who have done a lot to bring us the things that, truthfully, a lot of us take for granted every day, and that a lot of that can be attributed to the members of our military, so we’re always just looking for ways that we can say thank you and make sure that they get the recognition that they deserve.”
Well, Zach, as we’re closing out here, is there anything else that you would like to add to this message?
“Yeah, I also want to mention that all this month long, all the month of May, you can actually round up your purchase at the checkout when you check out at Hy-Vee to the nearest dollar, and that money will go to support those five different nonprofits that we support that help support the men and women who have served in the military and who are actively serving. So that’s going on this entire month, and we will also be doing that again in November, so we’re really doubling down this year.”
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