‘It’s our mission:’ VFW Post 6395 Spanish Fork, volunteers serve at Utah Food Bank
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- Veteran of Foreign Wars Post 6395 Spanish Fork Senior Vice Commander Larry Griffiths serves at the Utah Food Bank Timpanogos Distribution Center Tuesday, May 5, 2026, in Springville.
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- Volunteers serve at the Utah Food Bank Timpanogos Distribution Center Tuesday, May 5, 2026, in Springville.
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- Volunteers serve at the Utah Food Bank Timpanogos Distribution Center Tuesday, May 5, 2026, in Springville.
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- Volunteers serve at the Utah Food Bank Timpanogos Distribution Center Tuesday, May 5, 2026, in Springville.
Veteran of Foreign Wars Post 6395 Spanish Fork Senior Vice Commander Larry Griffiths knows a thing or two about following orders through his decades of military service in the U.S. Air Force and Army.
So he was impressed Tuesday morning with the proficiency of a group of volunteers he enlisted to help out at the Utah Food Bank Timpanogos Distribution Center in Springville.
“They found out what needed to be done and did it,” Griffiths said. “There was very little supervision that needed to be done.”
The group was participating in the VFW’s worldwide Day of Service, where more than 2,000 veteran-led service projects are planned in the month of May.
Griffiths led Tuesday’s efforts, and will lead three additional service projects at the food bank on May 14, May 19 and May 28. Tuesday’s group of 20-plus volunteers, many of whom signed up via JustServe, helped with Amazon food returns, organizing and moving large bins of food across the facility.
“And what we do here is sent out by truck to the food pantries, and then they distribute it there,” he said. “They have a lot of families that they service. It’s thousands of people.”
Griffiths, who is also a coordinator at JustServe and a frequent volunteer at the food bank, has been giving back to the community his whole life. He spent 30 years in the military and said he was part of the reconnaissance squadron that found the missiles in Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, and later came out of retirement to be a National Guard liaison during Desert Storm.
His reason to continue serving in the capacity as a VFW leader is simple.
“We’re veterans that served in foreign wars. It’s our mission to support the community in all that we can do, and the community supports us,” he said.
Additional volunteers are needed for VFW’s upcoming service projects at the food bank. Volunteers may sign up at JustServe.org
