Compassion. That was the first word I heard when I asked a volunteer, Zoe Davidson, to describe the Veterans Meal and Pantry Program (VMPP). Zoe moves through the room like an angel—touching shoulders, really seeing people, stopping to listen and connect. We could all learn from Zoe. It is the right word: compassion.
While the building itself is owned by Santa Cruz County, with oversight from Parks and Recreation, the VMPP operates entirely under the umbrella of the United Veterans Council, a separate nonprofit led by President Hutch Collier and managed by Dawn Collier. The program exists solely on volunteers and donations, independent of the county’s building budget. This cross-pollinated model—where community funding ensures vital services exist outside government support—is the backbone of what may be one of the most quietly heroic programs in our county.
I have lived in Santa Cruz for more than 20 years and I have rarely seen a local effort so consistent, so stubbornly human, and so built from the ground up by people who refuse to let their community slip through the cracks. Every week, the VMPP does something radical. It shows up. No matter what else is going on. No matter the politics. Wednesday is sacred.
How It Works
The program runs entirely on volunteers and donations—no government grants, no federal safety net. Dawn and Hutch Collier of the United Veterans Council coordinate a countywide alliance that keeps both the Wednesday Santa Cruz program and the Tuesday Watsonville pantry alive. “These programs are 100 percent supported by volunteers and donations,” Dawn says. “The community must never forget that.”
Wednesday is just the visible day. Behind it runs a seven-day operation. A dedicated cook team and support team secure donations from business partners like Safeway, Costco and others to help sustain the program. One week’s cacciatore alone required 25 chickens, all prepped the day before. The stocked pantry tables required constant coordination throughout the week. What veterans see when the doors open at 10am is the culmination of work that never stops. Ashley, the program’s bright star with the warm smile, is there early prepping silverware and plates and all sorts of things, making sure every detail is ready.
Service begins the moment the doors open. The room feels warm and inviting. You can feel the laughter and love. More than a hundred warm meals are served each week. A veteran praised the kitchen crew: they absolutely never miss when it comes to the salads, he said, and he always loves the entrees. The chicken cacciatore I saw disappear off trays would be considered comfort food in any home. For many who arrive cold and exhausted, it is their first real meal in days, as Gary Poland told me early on.
Keeping that meal warm, steady, and ready takes a crew as dedicated as the veterans they serve.
The heartbeat of the kitchen is a two-man crew: Scott Hamm and Danny Perel. Scott, a former Air Force officer, has volunteered for many years and also handles Sunday donation pickups. Danny was recruited over two years ago by the former head chef and quickly became essential. They arrive at 7 AM every Wednesday, working in quiet sync as they prep, roast, and keep everything hot. Dawn and Hutch call them the steady engine of the program—the reason the room smells warm, the plates stay full, and the meal feels like it came from someone’s home kitchen.
By the time the doors open at 10 AM, Scott and Danny have already put in hours of work to make sure the day starts with dignity.
Pantry distribution runs at the same time. Veterans now draw numbers and wait until called—a system that replaced the long, shaming lines that once dominated the room. When their number comes up, they shop through long tables of produce, canned goods, and essentials. Craig Johnson, an Army veteran and longtime volunteer, praised the change for eliminating arguments and restoring dignity. There is no screening. No prying into housing status or income. The only qualification is service.
At the center of it all are Joyce and Stan Stanhope, known as the originals. Stan is an Army veteran. Joyce is the quiet force who keeps the room warm even when spirits are low. She puts great care into managing the clothing donations, organizing them with intention, constantly making herself useful and solving problems for people. Between them, they have kept this program steady for 12 to 14 years, long enough to anchor the community around their table. Stan has the easy warmth of someone who could be a greeter at Disneyland, welcoming everyone who walks through the door. The volunteers live by a simple motto: “Still serving America.”
Robert and Judy Balzer round out the core volunteer team, longtime originals whose steady presence helps anchor the program week after week.
The Voices of Service
The Vets Hall is a living gauge of the modern veteran experience, where trauma and triumph sit side by side.
The scale of the mission is immense. There are over 9,100 veterans in Santa Cruz County, and the vulnerability is staggering. The California Association of Veteran Service Agencies report shows the Santa Cruz-Watsonville region has one of the highest rates of unsheltered homeless veterans in California.
Trevor Hutchison, operations coordinator for Dawn and Hutch, was the Meal Program Manager when the United Veterans Council first took over the program in early 2024. He views the VMPP as “a comprehensive operation requiring coordination across multiple programs and sites.” Trevor’s early tenure came with enormous growing pains. The VMPP and the separate Armory Meal Program—which Trevor manages through People First funding, preparing two meals daily for homeless veterans encamped at the DeLaveaga Armory—created simultaneous demands that required careful coordination.
Dawn’s arrival in October 2024 stabilized operations, allowing Trevor to introduce improvements like the outside hot meal service and expanded pantry variety. Her leadership freed him to help open the crucial Veterans Food Pantry in Watsonville, which now provides groceries to over 200 family members every Tuesday. He gives credit to two other members of the community: United Veterans Council leaders LoisRae Guin, still very active at 97 years of age and serving as senior vice commander of VFW Post 10110, and James Dailey, a Marine veteran and junior vice commander of the same post. He notes the current leadership of Doc Garza and his wife, Violet, who run the Watsonville program today.
Competence and crisis exist in the same person, often in the same week.
Trudy Leigh Heise served as an Army flight nurse on Huey helicopters over Vietnam. She faced danger in the air with iron calm. Today she avoids elevators and buses. Trauma changes shape but never disappears.
Thomas Hamilton, a Navy veteran, excelled as honor man in a notoriously difficult hydraulics school. In Da Nang, during a rocket attack, he was accidentally shot in the leg by his own assistant. He also shared a little-known truth: large amounts of unused ordnance were routinely dumped over Laos, an undeclared war zone, because planes could not land with it in Thailand.
Craig Johnson, an Army veteran and VMPP “original,” now faces losing his home to downtown development. After years of serving the unhoused, he finds himself at the edge of displacement too.
Kevin Buchanan, an Air Force veteran and former Cisco software engineer, came to the VMPP after a business collapse and the stress-induced mini-stroke that followed. He’s sharp, articulate and quick to connect dots others miss; it is easy to see why engineering teams wanted him in the room. He gave talks to students in Silicon Valley and continues building security-related technology, standing by his ideas even as circumstances shifted. Kevin’s story breaks the lazy stereotype of the veteran in need—here is someone who briefed executives, mentors engineers, builds security tech.
Sef Gallardo, the quick-witted Vietnam veteran I served food alongside, delivers the kind of Tommy Chong-style humor that lets people breathe for a minute. His last name means “gallant”—also the name of a Lamborghini model, he will tell you—and his civilian career as a director of global business operations seems a world away from his time as an airborne paratrooper. “I volunteered for the draft. I volunteered for the infantry. I volunteered for the Rangers. I volunteered for airborne training. I just volunteered every chance I got.” The reason was simple: “Nobody else wants to go.” Years ago he owned bikini shops in San Diego. Now he brings levity to Wednesday mornings. That laughter matters.
Zoe Davidson, stylish and steady, shows up because her son served in Afghanistan. She summed up the program’s beating heart in one sentence: “People need connection. Real connection.”
This struggle spans generations. While the room is often filled with Vietnam veterans, you will also find a charismatic young man, barely in his twenties, who is unhoused. He works on cutting-edge AI projects and has a LinkedIn profile to prove it, clearing his mind through juggling and flow arts. He proudly described his meticulously organized tented setup—living out in nature, a necessary adaptation to instability. The older veterans recognize him, approach him, include him. The program bridges generations, offering non-judgmental community for those dealing with fresh, often invisible, wounds.
Santiago Calderon, a Vietnam Navy veteran who now runs the weekly door prize raffle of donated items, was home alone one day, overwhelmed by “dark, bad, evil thoughts,” when someone suggested he visit the Wednesday program. The community pulled him back. “I look forward to Wednesday,” he said. “Wednesday is my favorite day of the week.”
How to Invest in Stability
Dave Ramos, the managing director of the Santa Cruz County Veterans Memorial Building, has spent more than 13 years embedded in the veterans community. He worked in the Veteran Services Office during his time at Cabrillo College, interned under his predecessor at CSUMB, and even served on the building’s Board of Trustees before the pandemic. To him, the VMPP is “more than a program—it is a multifaceted mission with many layers of support and direction.”
Ramos hopes to scale the operation into a true weekly resource hub, filling the auditorium with service tables, outreach groups and education kiosks. “It is a prime opportunity to do outreach, education, and service provision,” he said. With more than 9,100 veterans in Santa Cruz County, many of whom are unaware of or unable to access existing programs, his goal is simple: “I want direct interaction with every single one of them.”
Trevor emphasizes that the program’s impact comes from countless volunteers whose names rarely appear in articles. The Wednesday program connects to a broader Santa Cruz food security network—Grey Bears, Holy Cross, Second Harvest, St. Francis Soup Kitchen—creating a spiderweb of support that keeps the least amount of food from hitting the landfill while the maximum number of people are fed.
Before I left one afternoon, Gary Poland pressed a gold medallion into my hand after learning my nephew is currently serving in the Army. It was a final reminder of everything this program embodies: veterans who have endured the hardest experiences still finding ways to lift the next generation in uniform.
Note: Some full names and ranks have been withheld for privacy.
How to Help
The Santa Cruz County Veterans Memorial Building is located at 846 Front St., Santa Cruz. To volunteer with the Veterans Meal and Pantry Program, contact Dawn Collier at 831-345-2426 or db*********@***il.com. Donations can be mailed to UVC VMPP, PO Box 1063, Santa Cruz, CA 95061.
Watsonville Veterans Memorial Building is located at 215 E. Beach St., Watsonville. To volunteer or donate at the Watsonville Veteran Pantry, contact Roland “Doc” Garza at 760-807-8326 or do********@*ol.com.
Needed investments:
Furniture: 100 to 120 new sturdy lifetime chairs and replacement tables
Dignified Tools: Higher-quality kitchen tools that are easy to use for those with arthritic hands or limited grip strength
Technology and Outreach: New desktop computers, new Wi-Fi mesh units, improved cell-phone learning stations, and continued support for the long-running clothing program
