HAWTHORNE, Calif. – As a retired Marine Corps veteran, Sylvester Van Buren found his next calling, only this time it was in the kitchen. His love for cooking led him to try his hand in starting his own business that proved to be successful in the past.

“Everything’s going. I have my business plan laid out, I’m ready to relaunch. Plus, I have my social media going, set ready to go, ready to draw these big crowds for the launch of my food truck and then COVID-19 happened,” Van Buren said.

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Van Buren shared photos of the stuffed potatoes his Mega Potato Stuffed food truck would make. The relaunch would have marked the progress Van Buren has made in the last year. In 2019, Van Buren and his daughter were displaced for a few months when he ran into financial issues. But with the COVID-19 stay-at-home order in L.A. County, his business wouldn’t be enough to keep him going now.

“Here we go, again. You know this is…I’m about to fall on hard times,” Van Buren said.

But he wasn’t ready to feed into those thoughts. Van Buren is one of more than 350 veteran families working with U.S. Vets in Inglewood’s Supportive Services for Veteran Families program. The program helped him get his finances in order, find housing and now, with the impacts of COVID-19, he is hoping to find full-time employment while he waits for the orders to be lifted.

Akilah Templeton is the executive director, of the organization. She believes veterans like Van Buren are financially at-risk during the stay-at-home order.

“Those in permanent housing particularly, are especially vulnerable right now. Because of food insecurity, many of them have lost wages, many were struggling to make ends meet before this crisis hit and so, right now, we are concerned with making sure they have access to food and other essential resources,” Templeton said.

 

 

 

It’s a feeling of discomfort Van Buren knows he’s not immune to. But he said he’s not giving up.

“We’ve [have to] put our best foot forward and you know that’s my, that’s my mentality right now. Just putting my best foot forward, you know, applying for different things, tweaking my catering business a little bit, just to keep food on the table. Take care of my daughter,” Van Buren said.

That’s why Van Buren said he will do everything in his power to continue building on the progress he has made without looking back.

To help support veterans like Van Buren, the U.S. Vets in Inglewood is asking for donations to help with an increased need to assist veterans with lost wages, rent, medications and food insecurities.