BILLINGS — Volunteers with the Montana Veteran's Meat Locker will take a tour of four Carbon County towns Saturday, giving out free meat to veterans who can show proof of service.
The nonprofit's freezer trailer will be in Bridger from 9:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. next to the Jim Bridger Statue on the south end of town.
Next, the crew will be in Red Lodge from 11 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at the Silver Strike Bowling Alley at 609 Broadway Ave. N.
Then they're off to Joliet from 12:15 p.m. to 12:45 p.m. in front of the 212 Bar and Grill at 600 W. Front Ave.
The last stop is Rockvale from 1 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. near the junction of Highway 212 and Highway 310.
According to a post on the nonprofit's Facebook page, the first free meat giveaway of 2021 was planned and organized by veteran Meat Locker board member and Carbon County resident Jerad Werning.
Werning has also supported the organization with numerous game meat donations and a gun to auction off for fundraising, according to the post.
To receive food from the Montana Veteran's Meat Locker, a veteran must provide either a VA card, DD214 or other form of valid proof of service. A veteran's family member can also pick up meat for free by bringing along their service member's ID.
The Montana Veteran's Meat Locker has been giving out free domestic and game meat to veterans since for five years. Yellowstone County resident Chris Grudzinski started the nonprofit with the help of his wife, originally storing product in the family's garage freezer.
Since then, they've upgraded the nonprofit with a freezer trailer that regularly crosses the state, delivering food to veterans.
The Montana Veteran's Meat Locker is all ran off volunteer service. Volunteers gave out more than 29,000 pounds of meat to around 1,400 veterans in 2020. Over its five-year history, the group has given out 77,000 pounds of meat away to 5,700 veterans
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