TOLEDO, Ohio —
The Toledo Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Club passed out more than 400 meals to veterans who could not make it to community events on Monday.
It started eight years ago, when post commander Earl Mack was at a Veterans Day breakfast and he realized not every veteran has the transportation or ability to make it to events honoring them.
Mack, a Vietnam veteran himself, and other members of the club passed out hundreds of donated meals.
This year, they gave out hot meals from Bob Evans, Swig in Perrysburg and the Penta Career Center.
Mack said the food isn't the important part.
"They like the company," Mack said. "They'll start telling us about their past and thank you for being here. Sometimes they push the meal aside. So just them seeing us is really great."
For those being recognized, the food comes as a surprise.
"You're being rewarded for something that was like an accident," Korean veteran William Schumakar said. "I didn't know there was going to be any interviews or food or anything."
Schumakar said he signed up to serve in the Navy for six years with the promise of college tuition.
"There were some dark days, but you get through it," Schumakar said.
Schumakar is just one of the hundreds of veterans the Toledo Buffalo Soldiers visited, stopping by with a warm meal, but more importantly, some company.
"So they know that they are not forgotten at all," Mack said.
Those passing out meals took time to talk with each veteran they visited.
"We'll hear stories all day long from different veterans who have served in all the different wars," Fred LeFebvre, public information officer for the Toledo Buffalo Soldiers said.
Stories from veterans like Mary Good.
"I was on the amputee ward," Good said. "These were kids, 18, 19. I was 21. I felt like their mother."
Good signed up to be discharged, and she said the Korean War started the next day, so all discharges were canceled.
Good served in the Navy for two years. She said it was hard work, but something she is glad she did.
"I'll tell you working with those young amputee patients, and some were not so young but most of them were," Good said. "They gave me, I think, the courage to live life."