She helps fill the bellies & hearts of military families!

Army wife Monica Bassett's heart hurt when she saw a social media post from a military family who couldn't afford enough food. So she decided to start a pantry to make sure the loved ones of our heroes never go hungry!

- Kellie B. Gormly

Monica Bassett, an Army wife whose family was stationed at Fort Riley in Kansas in 2021, felt choked up when she saw a pleading social media post from a neighbor on the base. The woman was struggling financially, and the need had become so urgent that she was having to go through a neighbor’s trash can at night in search of something to eat.

I just need food. I’ll take any extra you have, the woman wrote.

Oh my God, Monica thought. Nobody should have to live like that.

As the daughter of a Vietnam Marine veteran, who had to go to a food pantry for a period during her childhood, Monica understood the woman’s pain and shame. She remembers the embarrassment of hearing civilian kids whispering about families needing food assistance when she was a girl.

I have to do something! Monica, a mom of two young daughters, Sofia and Amelia, now 10 and 5, thought, and was so driven to help, she decided to take money from her own food budget to buy necessities for her military neighbors in need.

She bought cheap laundry baskets at a dollar store, filled them up with food and household goods and set up a makeshift pantry in her garage.