John Sprigg and Gary Ward of the Marine Corps League Detachment 1436 Saturday unload a truck at the Roy Trembly Annual Fall Food Drive at Walmart in Marietta. (Photo by Art Smith)

Local veterans helped the community Saturday during the Roy Trembly Annual Fall Food Drive at Walmart in Marietta.

Members of the Bob O’Malley Detachment 1436 of the Marine Corps League and the Mid-Ohio Valley Platoon of the Marine Corps Veterans Association gathered outside the store collecting donations for the Gospel Mission Food Pantry at 309 Lancaster St. in Marietta.

The event is sponsored by The Marietta Times and the Marine Corps Veterans Association in partnership with Walmart.

The annual food drive event was renamed after Roy Trembly, the former local commandant of the Marine Corps League and the Marine Corps Veterans Association who passed away last year. The event has been going on for five years.

Bernie Lyons of the Marine Corps Veterans Association said many cash donations as well as non-perishable food items were received, among other donations. Among the items donated included cereal, canned goods, cleaning supplies, soap… “anything people can use,” he said.

Bernie Lyons of the Mid-Ohio Valley Platoon of the Marine Corps Veterans Association places donated groceries on a table Saturday during the Roy Trembly Annual Fall Food Drive held at the Marietta Walmart. (Photo by Art Smith)

“There are a lot of veterans and a lot of people that really need a little bit of help and we thought we could help,” Lyons said. “Things are pretty tough and there are people who need a lot of help.”

Mike Tucker and his wife Martha of Parkersburg donated a number of items to the drive.

“We knew Roy Trembly,” Mike Tucker said. “He was a very good guy.”

The Tuckers wanted to help others with food insecurity and deficiencies that were in the area.

“It is very easy for us to pick up some items and if it makes a difference then that is great,” Mike Tucker said. “We wanted to honor (Trembly) and help however we can.”

Irene Cain, adjutant pay master for the Bob O’Malley Detachment 1436 of the Marine Corps League, places food on a table during the Roy Trembly Annual Fall Food Drive Saturday at the Marietta Walmart store. (Photo by Art Smith)

John Sprigg, commandant for the Bob O’Malley Detachment 1436 of the Marine Corps League, said participating in the drive is a part of its mission in helping fellow veterans and serve those in need in the community.

“The Gospel Mission helps a lot of people that need the help,” Sprigg said. “It is what we do. We try to help people in need.”

Jeff Waite, co-director of the Gospel Mission Food Pantry, said the annual food drive is a big event for the pantry as it helped a lot of people over the summer and supplies are beginning to run low.

People are donating money, canned goods and non-perishable food items, among other items. One lady donated feminine hygiene products.

“People just don’t have to eat, they also need to take care of themselves,” Waite said. “It has been a little bit of everything. We can use anything people bring.”

Gary Ward of the Marine Corp League Detachment 1436 Saturday receives food from a shopper during the Roy Trembly Annual Fall Food Drive at the Marietta Walmart. Ward is a Gold Star father of Army Specialist Christan Ward. (Photo by Art Smith)

Waite commended the veterans for freely giving their time to help people.

“These guys are great and they bring in a lot of people and a lot of food and money,” he said. “It helps carry us. It really does.

“These guys are willing to step up and donate their time to do this,” Waite said. “We are grateful for the service they provided our country and they are still providing a service for our community. We thank them for that.”

Trembly’s daughters Angela Kimble and April Kessell said it was a great honor for the food drive to be named after their father as he was active with both groups, serving as commandant of both at different times. Tremby was wounded in combat and served in Vietnam.

“Both (groups) looked up to him and he looked up to them,” Kimble said of efforts both groups do to help fellow veterans in the area.

A cutout of the Iwo Jima Marine Monument built by Bryan Reeder was on display at the Roy Trembly Annual Fall Food Drive held Saturday at Walmart in Marietta. Reeder painted the cutout with his daughter Audrey. (Photo by Art Smith)

Trembly worked on organizing local Gold Star Families monuments as well as going around to local schools and teaching students the proper way to fold an American flag.

“He was very involved,” Kessell said.

By the end of the day, the drive collected two large pick-up trucks full of food and $4,225.26 in donations.

Other veteran service groups were present Saturday giving veterans flu shots and enrolling veterans with the VA as well as providing information for services available to veterans. Those included the Marietta Pioneer Chapter 52 of the Disabled American Veterans, AMVETS Post 1788 of Marietta, the Ronnie W. Davis Memorial Post 5108 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Washington Morgan Community Action, Vetcenter (for Mental Health), the SSG Fox Suicide Prevention Program and the Veterans Affairs Office.

Liberty Smith, an 11-year-old Girl Scout with the Girl Scout Black Diamond Council’s Troop 10148, helped organize the event with the additional veterans groups and designed the poster for the food drive as part of a service project for her Silver Award for Girl Scouts.

Doug Bergen checks the tables of some of the veterans' booths Saturday at Walmart in Marietta during the Roy Trembly Annual Fall Food Drive. (Photo by Art Smith)

“I decided I wanted to help the veterans in some way,” she said of getting in contact with the different groups and asking them to come out,” Smith said. “I really like helping veterans in my community and helping people.”

Girl Scout Liberty Smith talks with Gene Venham, commander of VFW Post 5108 in Marietta at the veterans' booths Saturday at Walmart in Marietta during the Roy Trembly Annual Fall Food Drive. Smith helped organize veterans' groups at the event, provide free flu shots to veterans and to help pass along information on veteran services. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)