Mid-Ohio Valley armed service veterans walked in lines from vehicles to the Chapter 32 Disabled American Veterans table in the Parkersburg News and Sentinel parking lot on Saturday with community food donations. (Photo by Janelle Patterson)

Retired marines, sailors, soldiers and airmen have gathered despite the cold and wet this weekend to answer another call for duty.

But they weren’t the only ones who heard the ring.

“I barely answered when you called me this week,” said Polly Shepherd, assistant commander of the disabled American Veterans Chapter 32 and head of the chapter’s veteran food pantry. “But something in my mind kept saying, ‘answer’ and I’m so glad I did.”

Since he answered calls, and others in the Parkersburg and Belpre areas also answered calls to serve, “Many people will now be fed,” as the organizer, Bernie Lyons, Saturday.

Lyons is gathering help from local veterans and Parkersburg News and Sentinel for another drive-thru food drive, this time at 519 Juliana St. in downtown Parkersburg, welcomes the public to drive and deliver canned goods, cereal boxes and other supplies.

This drive is modeled after a successful drive in Marietta at the Times building last month.

Lyons is a retired marine and a member of the Mid-Ohio Valley Platoon Marine Corps Veterans Association.

And even though the sky was gray, there were smiles, laughter and prayers of thanks on many Saturdays from every branch of service, exchanging war stories and good wishes and remembering their day-to-day friendship in uniform.

Shepherd shed tears at the sight of the truck’s tailgate filled with food.

“I can see all the holes in my shelf filled,” he snorted, before receiving another hug from the masked veteran.

And the Old Man Rivers Mission kitchen food box truck is also filling up.

Mike Tucker, president and CEO of the West Virginia Central Federal Credit Union, and Jeff Noland, both board members of the Old Man Rivers Mission, spoke of the dedication of volunteers at any level to giving and thanking those who donate their time, money, and food this weekend.

“We can always use volunteers to help pack food for the weekly delivery … we serve 100-150 families every day,” Noland explained.

And many times throughout Saturday, the people delivering the bag of goods or the entire tin tray repeated the same blessing, gratitude for the opportunity to serve.

“We’ve been at a difficult point before, we have to pay for it,” said Vickie Sargent, of Parkersburg, after stopping a second time on the drive-thru track with Ray Sargent and their luggage filled with food. “We heard you say you needed peanut butter, so we made our second trip.”

Others use the call to serve as a teaching opportunity, such as the Hess family in Belpre, with their children Makenna, Maddox, and Bryn distributing food in the back of the family vehicle to veterans stacking trucks.

At the end of a rainy day, more than $ 350 in donations to the kitchen was also raised, to be shared between kitchens.