Leathernecks Nation Motorcycle Club members teamed with a veterans’ organization, Valor Clinic Foundation in Brodheadsville, to bring clothing to Lehigh Valley veterans recently in a three-city campaign.

The local chapter of Leathernecks Nation Motorcycle Club, the Belleau Wood Chapter, mounted their motorcycles and escorted yellow trucks and after leaving Easton, arrived in Bethlehem about noon. They set up operations in the parking lot opposite New Bethany Ministries on West Fourth Street.

Working under a bright blue sky and unseasonably warm weather, the former U. S. Marines, with the help of some family, friends and staff from Valor Clinic Foundation, set up tables; then they hauled out banana boxes full of clothes and loaded the tables.

Valor Clinic Foundation’s mission is to provide assistance, access to benefits, and shelter to veterans with limited or no access to care, according to the foundation’s website.

Within minutes of their arrival they were open for business. All homeless people were welcome to browse the merchandise and take what they needed. During the Press’s visit about 15 homeless people walked away with yellow tote bags emblazoned with the logo for the Valor Clinic Foundation. Several said they were veterans.

Two of the men interviewed said they were homeless and living in tents in undisclosed locations in Bethlehem. One of these, William Soldridge, said he was a U.S. Marine, originally from Coplay.

Another, James Greensweig, said he had been homeless for 10 months. “I had been working on a garbage truck in Bethlehem,” he said, “but I got tumors on my feet and couldn’t stand on the truck.”

Greensweig said he is receiving welfare, but wants to work. He said he would like anyone with a potential job offer to call him at 610-570-9342.

Former Marine Robert Jackson, who is the chaplain for the Belleau Wood Chapter, said in an interview that he participates in this and similar events, “To help the homeless veterans, to help the country and to pay it forward.”

Daren Feliciano provided hot grilled food from the back of his truck. He said he volunteers his food service to help feed the homeless veterans. He said it is consistent with his Catholic faith.

In little over an hour after they set up the clothing issue point, the Marines loaded the trucks, mounted their Harleys and headed for Allentown to do it all over again.