North Platte was still a town in the United States in World War Two. This meant they were still given ration books. North Platte and all the surrounding towns helping the canteen had limitations on sugar, coffee, gasoline, among many other items. People stopped drinking coffee, and children stopped asking for birthday cakes. Together they pooled together all of their rations to make food for the soldiers. Only one month did the town keep track of how much food they gave away and the numbers were staggering. In one month they gave away a total of forty thousand cookies, thirty thousand hard boiled eggs, six thousand donuts, seven thousand cakes, and one and half tons of lunch meat.