TAUNTON – The Bristol County Savings Charitable Foundation is committing $50,000 to help expand a Fall River veterans services center that aims to increase food and other support for low-income and disabled veterans, the foundation announced Aug. 31.
The grant will be distributed in five annual installments to the Veterans Association of Bristol County, which is raising $3 million for improvements to its new 12,000-square-foot center at 145 Globe St.
The second phase of the capital campaign calls for $1.2 million in improvements, including a commercial kitchen, food pantry, food rescue room, dining center, clothing center and other program spaces.
The veterans association has raised $1.6 million toward its overall campaign goal and needs another $400,000 to begin construction on the kitchen, pantry and related veterans-specific spaces.
The new center will triple the association’s operating space from its current 4,000-square-foot facility, which is owned by the city of Fall River and is described by the organization as small, outdated and difficult to access.
The organization said it expects the expansion to double its prepared-meal and food-rescue services to 1,000 units per month and double food pantry donations to 40,000 pounds per month. It also expects to increase the number of households it serves annually by 50%, to 7,500.
“We are strengthening the financial independence of our veterans and that resonates strongly with Bristol County Savings Bank,” Ken Levesque, executive director of the veterans association, said in a statement.
The grant comes through the Bristol County Savings Charitable Foundation, which was established in 1996 and has committed more than $38 million to nonprofits in the communities served by the bank. The foundation awarded $2.9 million in 2025.
The veterans association was founded in 1987 by Vietnam veterans and provides food, clothing, health and wellness services, housing referrals, assistance with veterans benefits and peer support to veterans and their families.
Bristol County Savings Bank CEO and President John Silva said the bank has previously supported the association’s Harvest for Heroes program, which provides fresh food to veterans experiencing food insecurity.
Matthew McNulty is a PBN staff writer. He can be reached at McNulty@PBN.com or on X at @MattMcNultyNYC.
