SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Rick Albrecht met up with some friends for Hy-Vee’s 25th annual Veterans Day breakfast buffet.
“This is– this is pre-Thanksgiving,” veteran Albrecht said.
Albrecht spent more than 20 years serving his country.
“I had three assignments over in Germany, so almost a total of 10 years in Germany,” he said. “I got to see a little bit of history in the making. I was on the East German border when the wall came down in ’89, so I got to see the first refugees coming across in our sector.”
Albrecht and other veterans like him are the reason Hy-Vee puts on the annual breakfast. District store director Matt Heldenbrand knows the importance of honoring veterans– because he is one himself.
“I served in the Iowa National Guard for about 13 1/2 years. In that time, I was also deployed to Iraq and I spent about a year in Iraq from 2003, 2004, and then came home and went back to work at Hy-Vee,” Heldenbrand said.
Heldenbrand understands some of the things that veterans go through, whether it was overseas, or here in the U.S.
“There’s just such a large portion of their lives they have to put on pause and start something completely different and then go back again,” Heldenbrand said.
While it was a meal on Veterans Day, it’s important to remember and honor our veterans every day of the year.
“Those freedoms and privileges that we all have are essentially, they exist because of the veterans who go and serve on our behalf,” Heldenbrand said.
Hy-Vee and many other businesses are saying thank you for that sacrifice.
“It’s absolutely amazing and it’s very humbling to have all the attention brought on you when in a lot of cases you’re just doing your job, just doing whatever they asked you to do,” Albrecht said.
Along with breakfast, veterans received 15% off their groceries.
Hy-Vee also has its program called ‘Homefront’ that people can donate to, and Hy-Vee will match up to $100,000. The program helps benefit veterans and active military members.
