VFW At Work

1. Operation Access

   With a membership of about 90, VFW Post 4092 on St. Simons Island in Georgia is working to make the lives of disabled veterans a little easier. Through a Post project known as Operation Access, Post members build ADA-compliant access ramps, widen doorways and lower cabinets among other projects for disabled vets or nonprofit organizations supporting veterans. And they do it all for free.

   With no Post home in which to raise funds through a canteen or gaming, the Post has come up with alternate fundraising ideas. One of those is to offer free holiday giftwrapping to its community.

   From Nov. 29-Dec. 24, Post volunteers set up at Belk, a franchise department store located in the Southeast. For those with little time to gift wrap or those who just do not like to wrap gifts, Post 4092 volunteers take care of the wrapping for free. Donations are accepted.

   VFW Post Commander Buck Bennett said the Post typically gets about $4,000 in donations during the holidays because of this endeavor. At the giftwrapping station, a book showing the results of Operation Access is displayed for shoppers.

   Bennett said he has seen some shoppers donate as much as $200 after they find out what the Post is all about.

   "We really try to help people out. It's what we do," said Bennett who deployed to Bosnia in 2001 and Iraq in 2005 with the Georgia Army National Guard. "We have even recruited new members while giftwrapping because they want to be part of this."

   Bennett's wife was a marketing specialist for Belk, which is how the Post was able to get its foot in the door. Now, according to Bennett, even as store managers come and go, the Post always gets a call asking if they can come out and wrap gifts during the holidays.

   To publicize this community service event, flyers are distributed through the local schools as well as a robust social media campaign.

   Wrapping paper is collected throughout the year. This is the fourth year the Post has done this. Bennett said the five days before Christmas are always the busiest.

   The Post also has an active Buddy Poppy campaign to help fund Operation Access. An unnamed benefactor has reimbursed the Post for the cost of an accessible ramp, which runs about $3,000.

   Bennett said ramps are built modularly so that should the time come where a vet no longer needs it, the Post can take it apart and use it at another location.

   Last year, VFW Post 4092 was named All-American. Someone from another state reached out to Bennett to ask how the Post went from nearly nothing to receiving this honor.

   "I told him you have to adapt and overcome to accommodate the younger generation of veterans," Bennett said. "One of our mottos is 'We don't have a bar, we have crowbars.'"

   This article is featured in the 2024 December issue of Checkpoint. If you're a VFW member and don't currently receive the VFW Checkpoint, please contact VFW magazine at magazine@vfw.org.

2. VFW and Humana Provide 36 Tons of Food

   Volunteers at the 125th VFW National Convention in Louisville, Kentucky, participated in a Uniting to Combat Hunger seed-packing event aimed at helping families affected by food insecurity. Those seeds were sent across the country to distributors that provide healthy and fresh produce to those in need.

   As part of the initiative to address the issue, volunteers on July 27 packed 4,000 seed packets that were distributed to VFW Posts and Auxiliaries, as well as community gardens. A partnership with the Society of Saint Andrew, a Virginia-based nonprofit that provides hunger relief to communities in the U.S., has yielded about 72,000 pounds, or nearly 2.9 million servings of fresh produce, for communities in need.

   VFW's partnership with Humana has garnered more than 5.6 million meals for families in the United States. In 2024, 158 VFW Posts and Auxiliaries in 41 states participated. VFW Foundation Director of Donor Relations Richard Freiburghouse said that the Uniting to Combat Hunger campaign exhibits VFW's commitment to serving veterans and their communities, as well as addressing one of the most pressing issues facing many veterans.

   "The core goals of the Uniting to Combat Hunger program are to alleviate food insecurity in communities around the country and engage with VFW members participating in meaningful service projects," Freiburghouse said. "By leveraging our networks and resources, VFW Posts can make a significant impact, often involving veterans and their families in these efforts."

   VETERANS AT 'SERIOUS RISK'
   For 2025's Uniting to Combat Hunger campaign, VFW and Humana will partner with Volunteers of America. The program will focus on helping homeless veterans overcome food insecurity.

   Tracy Nolan, senior vice president of Humana MarketPoint, said the health care insurance company and VFW have a long-standing commitment to veterans, service members and their families.

   "Food insecurity and homelessness are both serious risks for suicide and other health issues," said Nolan, a guest speaker at the 125th VFW National Convention in Louisville. "We continue our collaboration with the VFW on the Uniting to Combat Hunger campaign to ensure our nation's veterans have access to healthy foods and resources that can help decrease the risk of common health problems - both physical and mental."

   1-IN-9 VETERANS AFFECTED
   According to Feeding America, 1-in-9 working-age veterans are food insecure. The organization also claims that about 1-in-4 active-duty service members were food insecure in 2020, and about 1.2 million low-income veterans use the government's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

   As of 2021, 12.8 percent of U.S. households were considered food insecure, according to the Department of Agriculture.

   For more information about the Uniting to Combat Hunger initiative, visit vfw.org/UTCH.

3. VFW Post 'Went Beyond All Expectations'

   VFW Post 5423 and its Auxiliary conducted a food drive on Aug. 31 for a school district's pantry that feeds Mountain Home, Idaho, residents in need.

   Post and Auxiliary members set out to aid the Bear Necessities Pantry, located at a local alternative school. Volunteers from the Post and Auxiliary collected more than 2,260 pounds of nonperishable goods from patrons of a local Walmart through an eight-hour period. The donations should provide food to approximately 160 families and last the pantry for about six months.

   Ashlie Lambrecht, a Bennett Mountain Community School coordinator, said she had never seen the pantry so full of food after the donation.

   "The VFW's effort in raising over 2,000 pounds of food for our school's pantry went beyond all expectations," Lambrecht said. "We are incredibly grateful and proud to be recipients of such generous support."

   About 8.6 percent of Idaho's population are veterans. About 23 percent of Idaho veterans live in Mountain Home, which is located about 12 miles northeast of Mountain Home Air Force Base. The base is home to more than 6,000 family members, 4,500 active-duty military members and 650 civilian employees.

   This article is featured in the 2024 October issue of Checkpoint. If you're a VFW member and don't currently receive the VFW Checkpoint, please contact VFW magazine at magazine@vfw.org.

4. 'Skills They Can Use Throughout their Lives'

   For the past 13 years, a VFW Post in the Hawkeye State has helped raise more than $60,000 for local eighth-grade students who participate in an annual trip to Washington, D.C. To do this, the Post enlists the students to work breakfasts twice a month.

   In 2023, Post 1977 in Decorah, Iowa, raised more than $9,000 for 63 students who volunteered during breakfasts at the Decorah All Vets Club. Students this year will work on the first and third Sundays of each month during the school year.

   "It doesn't pay for their trip, but it's money the parents don't need to part with," Post 1977 Quartermaster Mark Stockdale said to the Decorah Leader. "And they learn the value of working hard, and I enjoy working with young adults - giving them directions and teaching them what they need to know."

   Eighth-grade students who participate learn food service tasks and etiquette. Students serve food, bus tables and wash dishes. Stockdale also highlighted the importance of challenging work and mentorship that could help them with jobs in the future.

   "Bringing in eighth-grade kids to work a breakfast has many benefits - not just for the kids but for us as well," Stockdale said to the Leader. "The eighth graders provide us with great support in that they work the breakfasts, and they learn skills they can use throughout their lives."

   This article is featured in the 2024 October issue of Checkpoint. If you're a VFW member and don't currently receive the VFW Checkpoint, please contact VFW magazine at magazine@vfw.org.

5. 'Incredibly Grateful to the VFW'

   VFW Post 7689 in Martinsburg, Pennsylvania, donated $2,500 toward new helmets for the local high school football team to enhance safety measures in sports.

   Post Commander Doug Warmath presented the donation during Central High School's second football game at home in Martinsburg in mid-September.

   "The safety of our students is a top priority," Kayla Myers, president of the QB Club, told the Morrisons Cove Herald in Martinsburg. "We are incredibly grateful to the VFW and the broader community for coming together to ensure our athletes are well-equipped."

   The donation stemmed from the Spring Cove School District administrators recognizing the need for more proactive safety measures, though unable to cover the new unforeseen costs of implementing new safety standards for football teams in the district.

   VFW Post 7689's contribution to the district now allows Central High School to purchase the necessary amount of helmets to meet the safety standards lobbied by the local school district and its members.

   The check presentation by Warmath on behalf of Post 7689 also alluded to the large role the community in and around Martinsburg played in helping raise the funds for its local high school football program, according to the Herald.

   "This is what community is all about," Myers told the Herald. "It's amazing to see everyone come together for the benefit of our students."

   This article is featured in the 2024 October issue of Checkpoint. If you're a VFW member and don't currently receive the VFW Checkpoint, please contact VFW magazine at magazine@vfw.org.