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NYC Food Bank Head: 40% Of Veterans Need Food Assistance

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Veterans are returning to New York City from their service only to be faced with going hungry, the head a city food bank said.

As WCBS 880's Monica Miller reported, Margarette Purvis, president and CEO of the Food Bank for New York City, tried to raise awareness about the plight of former service members during a speech in the Bronx on Sunday.

Veterans Day is Monday.

NYC Food Bank Head: 40% Of Veterans Need Food Assistance

"On this Veterans Day, when we're waving our flags -- I need every New Yorker to know -- 40 percent of New York City veterans are relying on soup kitchens and pantries," Purvis said.

That amounts to 95,000 people.

"That is not a guesstimate; that is a fact," she said.

Purvis added that matters will only get worse now that $5 billion has been cut to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

"It's really not OK," Purvis said.

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