United States Marine veteran Dion Cucuta didn’t stop serving his country once he finished active duty.
Cucuta, whose service ended in 1983, feeds hungry people in Englewood, New Jersey, every Tuesday in conjunction with the Table to Table food program through an effort called Table to Table Tuesdays.
"It comes from my heart," he told TODAY’s Jenna Bush Hager.
Cucuta worked as a food service specialist while in the Marines before becoming an executive chef in New York City. Twenty-five years after he left the Marines, he began experiencing pain and had to get a hip replacement. Doctors told him his pain stemmed from drinking contaminated water at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina, and he went on permanent disability. While he was also told he wouldn’t work again, he didn’t let that stop him from helping others.
Cucuta started a nonprofit organization called the Disabled Combat Veterans Youth Program, which helps mentor young people and veterans. Cucuta noticed a rise in food insecurity after the pandemic began, so he enlisted some other Marines to take action. They have served more than three million meals over the last 20 months, feeding many veterans, which moves Cucuta.
"It really grasps me because I understand the sacrifices that they have taken,” he said. “You fought for this country. You’ve taken a bullet in some cases. Now I’m gonna fight for you."
Michael McNulty is one of many Marine veterans lending a hand to Cucuta's mission. He says helping others is just what they do.
"Dion had asked us to come up here and get involved," he said. "He says, 'There’s a lotta hungry people and it’s a lot more than you think. There’s a mile long line of cars there of people who are hungry. Marines have always, we always do humanitarian work all around the world," he said. "But this is here in our country."
Cucuta is determined to look out for people, regardless of who they are or whether they served in the military.
"My whole vision is that you served. I’m gonna take care of you," he said. "If you didn’t serve, I’m gonna take care of you. So either way it goes, I’m gonna take care of you no matter what is going on."
Cucuta’s efforts have not gone unnoticed. In September, he was honored by the international nonprofit Points of Lights, which seeks to get more people involved to help world issues, at the George H.W. Bush Points of Light Awards for his work with his community.
"Your humility and your empathy is the reason why you are a point of light," Jenna told him. "You don’t do this every week because you want to be pointed out for it. You just do it because you want to serve. You want to help."
"It’s an honor to serve these beautiful people. It’s not their fault that they’re in a pandemic and the crisis is hitting their home. It’s not their fault," said Cucuta. "So, we gotta show that we’re here for them, and it’s going be a better day, a brighter day."
And Thursday proved to be a brighter day, indeed.
"My heart skips a beat to know just one household has been helped. It’s amazing and I just feel real welcomed that I could help them," he told Jenna and Hoda Kotb.
Cucuta is focused on serving Thanksgiving meals, including ones for seniors who were displaced by Hurricane Ida, so supermarket Stop & Shop is donating $10,000 in gifts cards to the Disabled Combat Veterans Youth Program to help families buy food for the holiday.
"We honor you today and we honor you every single day. Thank you, all," said Jenna.
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