5 Ways to Help Military Families Facing Food Insecurity

Nearly one in four active-duty military families experience food insecurity, a rate close to double that of civilian households. During the 43-day government shutdown from October 1 through November 12, 2025, the number of families seeking help at Stronghold Food Pantry's Fort Leavenworth location jumped 335% in a single month, from a typical 115 families to 496.

This isn't a distant crisis. It's happening on installations across the country, often hidden behind the public image of stability that comes with wearing the uniform.

This post covers five real ways to help military families facing food insecurity. Some tackle immediate need while others are focused on long-term solutions. 

1. Donate to organizations built to serve military families

Most food pantries were built with a civilian family in mind. It means the standard model often doesn't fit military life. A family's Basic Allowance for Housing gets counted as income on many applications, pushing them just over the line for help even when their actual take-home pay says otherwise.

A pantry stocked through a food bank can't curate what it hands out, so a family gets whatever came in that week, not what they might actually need. Neither of those is a knock on general food pantries. It's just not what they were built for. Stronghold was.

When you give to Stronghold, here's exactly what happens to your dollar. A volunteer speaks with the family directly, learns their household size, allergies, cultural or religious dietary needs, and cooking capacity. Then they shop for the family the same way you'd shop for your own. Every family receives a full week of fresh groceries, scaled to 21 meals per person: proteins, dairy, produce, seasonings. Nothing pre-assumed, nothing sitting in a box hoping it gets used.

That distinction matters. Pre-packaged food box programs waste an estimated 30% of their contents on items families can't or won't use. Stronghold doesn't operate that way. Over 97 cents of every donated dollar goes directly to families, and nothing is wasted because nothing is assumed.

• For individuals: a one-time or recurring gift funds real groceries for a real household this week.

• For companies: matching gift programs multiply your employees' individual donations, and military-family giving tends to resonate strongly with a workforce, especially around Hunger Action Month in September and Military Family Month in November.

  
  

2. Volunteer your time

Stronghold is powered almost entirely by volunteers. It always has been, since our founder Monica Bassett started packing laundry baskets of groceries out of her own garage in 2022. Today that same model reaches families in 26 (and counting) states, through our brick-and-mortar pantry at Fort Leavenworth and a national Ambassador program.

• Locally: volunteers stock shelves, pack orders, and staff open pantry hours. That's the kind of hands-on help that let Stronghold extend hours and keep serving families even as demand surged 335% during the fall 2025 shutdown.

• Nationally: the Ambassador program trains community members to hand-deliver a full week of groceries to military families near installations far from a brick-and-mortar pantry, carrying the same trust-based, dignity-first model wherever it's needed. Stronghold's Ambassadors are actively expanding reach, with a focus on isolated installations where resources of every kind, not just groceries, are hard to come by.

• For companies: this is a natural fit for a team service day or an employee volunteer program: packing groceries, running a pop-up pantry, or supporting an Ambassador in your area.

3. Hire and support military spouses

Food insecurity in military families is rarely just about groceries. It's about income.

The most recent official DoD-reported figure is around 22%, cited in an April 2026 memo from Anthony Tata (Defense Under Secretary for Personnel and Readiness) announcing expanded hiring flexibilities — described as having held steady at around 22% — or about five times the national average. Frequent PCS moves, licensing that doesn't transfer across state lines, limited on-post childcare, and quiet hiring bias all make steady spouse income harder to come by than it should be.

This is where help doesn't have to run through any organization at all.

• For individuals: consider hiring a military spouse directly for work you're probably already paying someone for: house cleaning, babysitting or childcare, pet sitting, yard work, tutoring, virtual assistant work. Many military spouses already run these services. They just need clients. 

• For companies: look at what's actually in your control. Flexible and remote-friendly roles that survive a PCS move. Hiring practices that don't penalize employment gaps tied to relocation. Formal military spouse employment or licensing-support programs. And a willingness to interview a candidate whose resume shows six job changes in eight years for exactly the reason it does.

4. Host a drive, or build a corporate partnership

This is the option built for a group, not just a person, and it scales from a single classroom to a national brand.

• Individuals, schools, and neighborhoods: run a food or fund drive of your own. During the fall 2025 shutdown, Leavenworth High School JROTC organized food drives, and MacArthur Elementary led a Thanksgiving drive that helped stock Stronghold's shelves when demand was highest. Local families donated in bulk. None of it required a formal partnership. Just a group willing to show up.

• For companies: go further with a structured partnership such as matching gift campaigns, in-kind donations, cause-marketing tie-ins, or event sponsorship. During the fall 2025 shutdown, partners like Rapid Response Charities and American Legion Auxiliary, Kansas Unit 370 donated turkeys, pies, and holiday staples that helped 60 military families at Fort Leavenworth share a full Thanksgiving meal through Stronghold at the Table. New partnerships with organizations like Wounded Warrior Project, Veterans PCS, and Boost Giving have expanded what's possible even further.

A lunchbox drive at a local school and a year-round corporate sponsorship both do the same thing: turn one-time generosity into a repeatable source of support.

5. Advocate for smarter policy

Some of the biggest drivers of military food insecurity aren't about food at all. They're about how the system counts a paycheck. Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) is counted as income on many food-assistance applications, which can push a family's on-paper income just high enough to disqualify them from the very support they need. It's a major reason Stronghold doesn't route its own food purchases through traditional food banks. Instead, it shops with intention, so donor dollars aren't left to chance.

You don't need a title or a lobbying budget to push on this.

• Share the numbers. Awareness is what turns a quiet, hidden and often misunderstood issue into one people act on. Conditions-based programming assumes only junior ranking military families need support. However, Stronghold’s national utilization data shows that over 50% of Stronghold patrons are non-commissioned officers.

• Contact your representatives about how military pay and benefits are calculated for assistance eligibility.

• Support organizations already doing this work. Stronghold holds real, family-level data from the families it serves and uses it to advocate at the policy level. It's the same peer-to-peer, from-the-ground-up instinct that got Stronghold started in the first place.

Awareness must lead to action

Food insecurity among military families isn't a distant issue, and it isn't a reflection of failure. It's a reflection of a system that needs strengthening, and a community willing to show up in the gap. A donation, a Saturday volunteering, a job offer to a spouse down the street, a call to your representative, a food drive at your kid's school. Each one moves a real family closer to a full table.

We are Stronghold. This is what happens when awareness meets action.

Ready to help military families facing food insecurity?

Donate to Stronghold Food Pantry and put 21 meals per family member on the table for a military family this week.