Group of Philly veterans still dedicated to service helps tackle food insecurity

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A group of service minded veterans — called Action Tank — is leveraging the experiences, skills and leadership of its members in a different approach to policy issues.  

They called a "100 for Hunger" meeting.

"One in five Philadelphians doesn't know where they're getting their next meal from," said Chris Diaz, executive director of Action Tank.

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Diaz, who served in the Navy and as a corpsman with the Marine Corps, said while no single organization can solve food insecurity issues, the 100 people in the room had break-out sessions to discus best practices and opportunities.

"We have something like 60-plus deployments across this world, 20 advanced degrees," he said. "We're made up of attorneys, doctors, academics, entrepreneurs, CEOs. All of that cognitive diversity at the table is able to do something."

Diaz said they're aggregating the information, sharing it with partners, and zeroing in on government programs, food access, cost, urban agriculture and zero waste to curb food insecurity.

The group says while they may have taken off the uniforms, they never stop serving.