The Suffolk County Veterans Services Agency in partnership with the Long Island Veteran Suicide Prevention Coalition hosted the 5th annual Veterans Resource and Stand Down Event. Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone and the Suffolk County Legislature supported the event and welcomed over 500 veterans who were in line at the H. Lee Dennison Building in Hauppauge to participate and receive services and general needs items. Suffolk County is home to the largest population of veterans in New York State and has one of the largest veteran’s populations of any county in the United States.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (center) with National Grid employee volunteers at the Suffolk County Stand Down event.

National Grid was one of many companies and organizations across Long Island that participated. National Grid and PSEG Long Island provided a donation to the General Needs organization which purchased brand new necessities and delivered them with respect and dignity to our brave veterans. General Needs provided military grade backpacks, shoes, socks and a thank you note written by Commack students and volunteers. National Grid advocates were assisting veterans highlighting key energy saving affordability programs that are available.

“National Grid knows the importance of giving back to our nations heroes who have given so much for our country, since we have many veterans in our workforce,” said Kathy Wisnewski, Director of Customer and Community Engagement. “We are proud to partner with Suffolk County, General Needs, and PSEG Long Island to support the Suffolk County Stand Down event. It was a great event to see all these organizations working together to provide our brave veterans with what they need and deserve.”

The veterans walked away with bags of items and information including emergency kits from the Red Cross, fresh produce from Island Harvest and pet food from Paws for Wars. Twenty six organizations participated in the Stand Down offering a variety of resources free-of-charge as well as a hot meal.

Watch this short video to see some of the items that were donated.

About National Grid

National Grid (NYSE: NGG) is an electricity, natural gas, and clean energy delivery company serving more than 20 million people through our networks in New York and Massachusetts. National Grid is focused on building a smarter, stronger, cleaner energy future — transforming our networks with more reliable and resilient energy solutions to meet state climate goals and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.