Navy Federal Credit Union’s “No Plate Left Behind” Campaign Combats Veteran Hunger

By: Allison Stevens  | October 2, 2025

Kaitlin Nelson, a mortgage supervisor at Navy Federal Credit Union in Pensacola, Florida, understands the gift of receiving.

When she was young, her parents struggled to cover medical care for her sick brother and, at the same time, meet their needs—even those as basic as food. The choices her parents faced were wrenching, such as whether to travel to a children’s hospital in a faraway city or use those precious funds to feed the family that week.

Nelson’s family made it through an especially difficult year, thanks in part to Feeding the Gulf Coast (FTGC), a Feeding America affiliate that collects food, inspects and packages it, and delivers it to coastal communities in Florida, Alabama and Mississippi. Getting the organization’s food boxes “was how we ate” most days that year, Nelson told FTGC.

Now, decades later, Nelson is paying it forward.

At FTGC’s massive warehouse in Milton, Florida, Nelson and other Navy Federal volunteers organize food and pack backpacks and boxes that go to people facing hunger, including Veterans. Nelson has volunteered twice this year and at least 15 times in the past 5 years and hosted a department food drive to support Feeding the Gulf Coast’s Thanksgiving for All initiative. She plans to continue “as long as they will have me.”

Nelson is one of several dozen Navy Federal team members who regularly volunteer at the warehouse. All told, Navy Federal team members have contributed more than 7,000 volunteer hours over nearly 400 shifts at Feeding the Gulf Coast since 2020, which serves a region with a high concentration of military families. The efforts have helped provide more than 986,000 meals to people in need—many of whom are Veterans.

Nationally, 1 in 9 working-age Veterans struggles to put food on the table, and many are forced to make impossible choices between food, rent and other needs, including medical care. Working-age Veterans are 7 percent more likely to experience food insecurity than those in the general population, according to the Food Research and Action Center.

A ripple effect

Navy Federal’s volunteer work at FTGC goes beyond food packaging and distribution. In 2023, the credit union financed the construction of a new outdoor volunteer space that gives FTGC volunteers and employees a defined place to work and relax. The organization’s involvement has a “ripple” effect in the community that inspires others to volunteer for the cause, says FTGC President Michael Ledger.

It’s also a small slice of a much larger effort to combat hunger nationwide.

This fall, Navy Federal again partnered with Feeding America to connect Veteran families with needed food. Navy Federal’s third annual No Plate Left Behind campaign, which ran in September during Hunger Action Month, directs donations to the Feeding America network of local food banks with large Veteran populations in their service areas.

The credit union also collected nonperishable food donations at bins on its main campuses in Virginia, Florida and California and in Navy Federal branches. In total, the No Plate Left Behind donated 28 million meals to those in need.

The credit union also encouraged team members to donate or use their paid leave to volunteer at a Feeding America food bank in their community and hosted awareness-raising events.

“Showing up for our Veterans and their families is always front and center,” said Jennifer McFarren, Navy Federal’s assistant vice president of Strategic Partnerships & Community Impact. “We stand ready to support our members through their day-to-day lives, from financial wellness to food security and beyond.”

Nelson, for her part, says her life has come full circle. “I’m grateful to work for a company that allows us to give back to such an important cause—and one that assisted my family in our times of need.”

Learn about the campaign to feed Veteran families in need at www.noplateleftbehind.com.