VFW At Work

1. Supporting Veterans Health Care

   The Department of Maryland VFW Auxiliary recently donated $6,000 to the Veterans Affairs Maryland Health Care System.

   The Salisbury Independent reported that the donation will benefit veterans throughout the "Chesapeake Bay State" by providing things such as creative arts resources, transportation services, adaptive sports equipment, holiday gifts, supplies for new and expecting mothers, and equipment for inpatient care units.

   Veterans who receive care at the Baltimore, Loch Raven and Perry Point VA Medical Centers will be directly supported by this donation.

   Jonathan Eckman, director of the VA Maryland Health Care System, told the Salisbury Independent that the Department of Maryland VFW Auxiliary donation will allow the health care system to provide enhanced services and programs to veterans and serves as a reminder that veteran patients' military service has not been forgotten.

   More than 58,000 veterans in Maryland are supported by the VA Maryland Health Care System.

   This article is featured in the 2025 February 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.Article submitted by Madeline Mapes, a freelance writer based in Kansas City, Missouri.

2. Warming the Community with Open Arms

   This winter, VFW Post 6291 has served as a warming center for the Murray, Kentucky, community when temperatures drop below 30 degrees.

   Post 6291 Commander Richard J. Owens said the Post opened as a warming center in January for 20 days in conjunction with local emergency management officials.

   He said during that time the Post served nearly 100 people, 22 of which stayed there 24 hours a day. The 22 people were served a minimum of two meals a day and everyone was welcome to winter necessities.

   According to The Herald Ledger, the Post provided blankets, clothes, pillows, shoes, warm food and a place to sleep for those in need.

   Owens said they distributed more than $40,000 worth of cold weather essentials to community members during those 20 days.

   "We call our Post a family, and we all come together as a family to look after one another," Owens added. "We took an oath to serve our country, and that oath never died."

   The Post will open as a warming center in the future on an as-needed basis when temps drop.

   This article is featured in the 2025 February 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.Article written by Madeline Mapes, a freelance writer based in Kansas City, Missouri.

3. Groundhog Festivities

   Members of VFW Post 2076 in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, hosted their 24th annual Groundhog Day celebration by welcoming residents from the VA Hospital in Butler, Pa., on Jan. 26.

   Since its inception in 1999 - only canceled twice during the COVID-19 pandemic - Post 2076 has welcomed veterans from the VA, treating them to tours of the Punxsutawney Area Historical and Genealogical Society, the Punxsutawney Weather Center, and then back to the VFW for a lunch featuring beef stew and a visit with Punxsutawney Phil at Gobbler's Knob.

   Butler VA Medical Center's recreational and creative arts therapist, Marc Conti, praised Post 2076 as a prime example of a resource in the community that can be used without the aid of alcohol, according to a press release by the VA.

   "There are no temptations or triggers there to set off those who are being treated for addiction," Conti said, adding that he appreciates the Post does not sell liquor at their canteen.

   According to the press release, the highly anticipated therapeutic trip provides education, fun, and camaraderie for VA residents who find that they can have a good time while remaining sober. Plans for next year's trip, which will be about a week before Groundhog Day, are already in the works.

   Origins of Groundhog Day

   Brought over by German settlers in the 1700s, they, of the Christian faith, believed that clear skies on Candlemas Day meant a long winter, while cloudy skies meant an early spring.

   Facts About Punxsutawney Phil

   • The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club was organized in 1899.
   • Members of the club care for Phil and his family at a space next to the Punxsutawney Memorial Library.
   • The Inner Circle is a group of members who wake Phil from his burrow and announce his prediction.
   • In 1886, Clymer H. Freas, the city editor of the Punxsutawney Spirit Newspaper, proclaimed Phil the official weather forecasting groundhog.
   • Phil's full title is "Punxsutawney Phil, Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Prognosticator of Prognosticators and Weather Prophet Extraordinary."
   • Phil is now a celebrity, with thousands of visitors from around the world watching his prediction at Gobbler's Knob.
   • If Phil sees his shadow, it's an omen of six more weeks of winter.
   • If Phil doesn't see his shadow, spring is coming.

   This article is featured in the 2025 February 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. Cancer Awareness

   VFW Post 4561 members in Cresco, Iowa, raised more than $3,000 during their annual cancer benefit breakfast event this January.

   The fundraiser ran from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., with proceeds going towards the local Howard County Cancer Association, as well as the Post 4561 Auxiliary Milz Cancer Grant.

   Post 4561 Quartermaster Alice Abbott told local news outlet KIMT3 about Auxiliary member Jessie Milz and her husband's mission to create the Post 4561 Auxiliary Milz Cancer Grant to honor Milz's memory and help other community members with cancer.

   Both cancer funds, according to Abbott, will help with the cost of transportation for cancer patients in the community.

   "We noticed that we had local people that were suffering from cancer, and the funds were needed here," Abbott told KIMT3 in Cresco. "We just split it between the two organizations."

   The cancer benefit breakfast hosted 227 guests and helped raise $3,164.

   This article is featured in the 2025 February 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. 'A Proactive View of the VFW in Our Community'

   For the past two decades, members of VFW Post 3746 have conducted monthly cleanups around their community in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

   They are often seen hauling trash bags along the sides of roads and highways in their VFW gear, infrared vests and smiles, joined by dozens of children and adults recruited to help beautify their city of more than 75,000 residents.

   "This is important to us because the VFW is about assisting veterans and their families, but also assisting its community," VFW Post 3746 Commander John Thorne said. "This helps maintain a proactive view of the VFW in our community."

   Post 3746 volunteers have collected tons of trash along the roads and highways since beginning this initiative in 2005. They devote a weekend each month to gathering trash for a minimum of two hours and two miles, which sometimes runs longer and farther.

   According to Post Quartermaster Grady Meeks, these cleanups are often coordinated with Rock Hill sanitation services, which pick up stockpiles of trash rounded together by Post 3746 members along the road.

   "When doing community pickup in the city, we put the trash in bags and leave them for the city to pick up," Meeks said. "If we are working in the county, our members will collect the trash and take it to the city dumpsters ourselves."

   To achieve this task each month, Post 3746 members recruit volunteers from local schools and JROTC programs near and around Rock Hill, as well as through word of mouth around the city.

   This proactivity in recruiting and working closely with the community bodes well for Post 3746 and the image it continues cultivating within its community. According to Post Trustee Willie Williams, these efforts by his fellow Post members never go unnoticed.

   "The community always responds by helping with the cleanups," Williams said. "They also always let us know how much we mean to them through their continued support of our programs and activities."

   This article is featured in the 2024 January/February issue of VFW magazine, and was written by Ismael Rodriguez Jr., senior writer for VFW magazine.