Assistance for Veterans founder Major General Alfred Valenzuela (ret) will visit the God Provides Food Bank on Saturday, April 25, 2015 in South El Monte to meet with several youth groups, including Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops. The former Eagle Scout will encourage the youths to aspire to do great things. This event is dedicated to these young boys and girls and Valenzuela will speak to them as a group and individually and will take questions from the children.
MG Valenzuela is dedicated to assist all veterans who need a good meal and a helping hand. Valenzuela will be visiting Los Angeles to announce his organization’s 501-c3 non-profit status. Assistance For Veterans is seeking donations of any type, including food, hygiene items, and warm clothing to redistribute to homeless veterans living on the streets along with those living in transitional housing throughout the City of Los Angeles and surrounding cities. The organization currently makes deliveries on a weekly basis, providing tons of quality food in addition to clothing and toys for children at one home.
“The problem is there are hundreds more veterans who could use our assistance,” Valenzuela said. “We only need a helping hand from our generous community. Our organization also assists those veterans living on the streets; we provide them with food and assist them through the process of getting off the street. Once a veteran feels it is time to get off the street he will be helped with a roof over his head and plenty of counseling to begin a normal life in our community. Our organization’s unique weekly deliveries keep us connected to those veterans that are currently having a difficult time and need a helping hand.”
Assistance For Veterans plans on expanding its “Veteran Food Assistance Program” to other states and cities, including San Antonio, Texas and its surrounding cities.
“We are building our food bank, which is the best way to help our veterans in need of food assistance,” Valenzuela explained. Assistance For Veterans is also accepting donations of cars, boats, RV’s or any other item it can turn into cash to buy more food.
Valenzuela served 33 years in the U.S. Army and was highly decorated for heroism and valor. He served in three corps and six divisions all over the world, including Peru, Korea, Columbia, Turkey, Haiti, Kuwait, Grenada, Panama, Germany, El Salvador and Somalia. He commanded in the Cold War and Gulf War eras and was awarded the Defense and Army Distinguished Service Medals and was also decorated for Valor & Heroism. After retirement, he created an educational foundation for at-risk children and for the families of soldiers killed in the line of duty. He now sits on the community boards for the Boy Scouts, the Boys and Girls Club, the Eagle Scout Foundation and Haven for Hope. He was the President and CEO of the San Antonio Housing Authority. He is an Eagle Scout himself and was inducted into the Boys and Girls Club Hall of Fame. He also sits on the national boards for St. Mary’s University, Armor Designs, the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute, and USAA Federal Savings Bank. In addition, he is a senior consultant to the Center on Terrorism Law at St. Mary’s University School of Law where he was recently named a Distinguished Alumnus. As the president and CEO of three international business companies, he was named one of the most influential Hispanic Americans in the U.S. by Hispanic Business magazine. President Barack Obama appointed MG Valenzuela for Member, World War I Centennial Commission. He is now building this organization Assistance For Veterans and AssistanceForVets.org to help as many homeless and in-need veterans as possible on a weekly basis throughout the year and is committed to the challenge.
