WEBVTT

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The men and women of 139th Airlift Wing

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are no strangers to answering calls for

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assistance from their community and

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beyond from lending a hand to the

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ravaged coast of Louisiana after

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Hurricane Katrina to reinforcing levees

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as the waters of the Missouri River

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threatened local residents 2020 and the

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COVID-19 pandemic provided no shortage

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of need across the country . Although

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unexpected . The experience and

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dedication of the airmen of the 139

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made them ready for anything . While

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over 100 airmen from the 139th were

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scattered across the state supporting

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COVID-19 response . A handful of airmen

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lent a hand in their backyard .

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Starting in 1981 2nd Harvest Community

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Food Bank is a nonprofit food

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distribution center which helps

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families , individuals and seniors

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across the 19 county region of

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Northwest Missouri and Northeast Kansas .

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After a volunteer shortage and rising

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local food insecurity . The one 39th

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was asked for help . The answer was

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swift yes . Anything that they needed

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as far as the backpack buddy programs ,

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getting school age kids that meal

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during the day , we help make those and

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deliver those and then , you know ,

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numerous other things in the warehouse

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support And getting food out of those

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mobile food pantries . And that was

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really the bread and butter of what we

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did prior to the pandemic . Second

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harvest was providing 26 mobile food

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pantries a month from March to June

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2020 . That number rose to 70 We would

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go , we would set up for about a 4-hour

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period hand out . Usually about six

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pallets of food to a grateful

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population along with the regular

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donations they get . They also got a

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lot of increased donations from the

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restaurant industry shutting down also

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for Close to a 30 day period in the

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area . So all the extra produce and

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product that was going to go to waste

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in the restaurant industry ended up at

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the second harvest food entry where it

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was put to good use out in the local

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populist Due to unemployment caused by

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the pandemic demand for food assistance

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rose about 40% higher in 2020 than the

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previous year . At mobile pantries

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Between March and June 2020 , nearly

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100,000 more individuals were served

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compared to the year before . They were

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very kind and courteous to us as we uh

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as we supported them and they were out

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in the community got constant thank

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you's and even some , some tears and

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sometimes that they were just so happy

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that we were there . The year long

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mission with Second Harvest also gave

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airman themselves invaluable experience

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not only working as a team , but honey

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leadership qualities that they can

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carry through their career . I think

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myself and senior Coleman did a great

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job empowering the other E

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seven's to kind of take care of their

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people uh as well as the fives in order

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to give them some more N Ceo leadership

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skill training . Everybody learned kind

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of more of how to be empowered in the

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position they were in . Service members

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ultimately decided to serve their

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nation and communities for a multitude

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of reasons . But missions such as this

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where they can see the meaningful

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outcome of their hard work and

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sacrifice truly in steals within them ,

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a pride for what they do and truly the

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greatest organization in the world is

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is right here at this base and the best

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people , it's evolved into a love for

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the people that are here and what it is

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that we do and in the honor that that

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it is to wear the uniform .