VFW Press Releases

1. VFW Still Serving Campaign Shatters Records

   KANSAS CITY, Mo. -The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) launched Still Serving in March 2020 to highlight how America's veterans continue to serve in their local communities after transitioning from the military. What started as a campaign became a movement as veterans across the world stepped up to share stories of their continued service. In 2022, the organization launched an outgrowth of the initiative, VFW Day of Service - an annual dedicated day of community service projects led by veterans throughout the world. To date, more than 3,700 community service events have taken place. The Still Serving initiative has continued to break records for year-over-year growth. For example, from FY2024 to FY2025, engagements grew 112% and Day of Service events more than tripled.

   "Service doesn't end when the uniform comes off," said Carol Whitmore, VFW national commander. "The Still Serving campaign reminds us that veterans, to include the collective VFW, not only give back to our local communities, but we stand shoulder to shoulder with our fellow veterans, helping them navigate their VA benefits, advocating for enhanced quality of life programs and resources and ensuring no one is left behind. Veterans continue to answer the call, proving every day that the spirit of service lasts a lifetime."

   According to the 2021 Veterans Civic Health Index¹, veterans average nearly 30% more volunteer hours per year and outpace civilians by 15% in charitable donations. Additionally, nearly 40% more veterans belong to a group working on community issues.

   Since its launch, 6.5 million people have engaged with the campaign through the Still Serving website, videos and social channels. Additionally, more than 3,500 veterans have shared their personal stories of sacrifice and service.

   Building on a legacy of service spanning over a century, the Still Serving initiative captures the essence of the VFW and its members, reflecting the ongoing evolution of today's VFW Posts as a place where veterans can seek support, share camaraderie with those who have similar experiences and give back to both fellow veterans and the broader community. The VFW encourages veterans and their families to share stories on social media using #StillServing to showcase how they themselves continue to answer the call to serve or honor a veteran in their lives who believes the spirit of service transcends military life.

   Visit vfw.org/StillServing to learn more about the campaign, make a shareable image honoring veterans in their lives, watch videos of VFW members making a difference and see a collection of user-generated content.

   ¹2021 Veterans Civic Health Index

2. VFW Salutes US Navy on Its 250th Birthday

   KANSAS CITY, Mo. -The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) proudly joins the nation in celebrating the 250th birthday of the United States Navy, which has been our unwavering maritime shield, defending the seas to ensure America's security and economic prosperity.

   On Oct. 13, 1775, a resolution of the Continental Congress established what is now the United States Navy with "a swift sailing vessel, to carry ten carriage guns, and a proportionable number of swivels, with 80 men, be fitted, with all possible despatch, for a cruise of three months..." While disbanded for a short while after the end of the Revolutionary War, it was permanently established by the passage of the Naval Act, signed into law by President George Washington in 1794.

   For two and a half centuries, the Navy has demonstrated an unmatched capability to project power and protect American interests across the globe. With carrier strike groups, submarines, and expeditionary forces, the Navy remains the world's most dominant sea-fighting force, ensuring that America's reach extends wherever the waves crash.

   As we celebrate this historic milestone on Oct. 13, we reaffirm our commitment to supporting all sailors and their families. Their selflessness in defending our nation's interests, often in the most challenging and distant theaters, ensures the safety of our country and its allies.

   Please join the more than 1.4 million members of the VFW and its Auxiliary in saluting America's sailors, past and present, and thanking them for 250 years of extraordinary service and sacrifice.

   Take part in celebrating the Navy's 250th anniversary, learn more at homecoming250.org.

3. VFW, SVA Announce 2025/2026 Legislative Fellowship Selectees

   WASHINGTON -The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), together with Student Veterans of America (SVA), is pleased to announce its selection of six student veterans to complete the 2025/2026 VFW-SVA Legislative Fellowship. Now in its 12th year, student veteran fellows gain experience advocating for a solution to a pressing veterans' issue by engaging leaders within their local communities, through social networking and in the halls of Congress.

   "Veteran advocacy is just as important today as it was back in the Bonus March days," said VFW National Commander Carol Whitmore. "As a team that spans generations, it's up to us to ensure we receive the benefits we earned and were promised. Through the VFW-SVA Legislative Fellowship, we equip emerging veteran advocates and leaders with the tools they need to develop sound advocacy plans and carry them through to action," Whitmore continued. "I'm so proud of this partnership with SVA because our fellows will help amplify the veteran's voice on Capitol Hill."

   The VFW-SVA Legislative Fellowship is a roughly semester-long immersive experience through which fellows receive advocacy training and mentorship from each organizations' professional staff, create community outreach plans, and actively engage community and national leaders on a shared VFW and SVA policy priority. To qualify for the fellowship, student veterans must be a VFW member, be currently enrolled in an accredited college or university program, write an essay conveying the importance of veteran advocacy, submit a video detailing why they are a good fit for the program, and complete an interview.

   "The VFW-SVA Legislative Fellowship prepares the next generation of veteran advocates - student veterans who turn lived experience into actionable, bipartisan policy," said SVA National President and Chief Executive Officer Jared S. Lyon, a VFW Post 3308 Life member in Tallahassee, Florida. "Together with the VFW, we're training leaders who research, build and brief real solutions on Capitol Hill, and they're already shaping outcomes for our community. As a proud VFW Life member and SVA's president & CEO, I see in every fellow the future of veteran advocacy: informed, disciplined and unafraid to lead."

   The six fellows selected for the 2025/2026 class are:

   • Shadic Anderson, Marine Corps veteran, California State University
   • Juanita Murillo Garcia, Army veteran, Northeastern University
   • Giancarlo Gonzalez, Army veteran, St. Petersburg College
   • Kimmie Kim, Navy veteran, Vanguard University of Southern California
   • Austin Lawrence, Navy veteran, Harvard University
   • Sarah Lively, Air Force veteran, Concordia University

   New this year, fellows will now participate in the SVA Leadership Institute in Washington, D.C., from Oct. 15-19, 2025, where they will receive comprehensive leadership training alongside SVA's top chapter leaders. In January 2026, the cohort will attend SVA's 18th Annual NatCon before heading to Washington, D.C., at the end of February to participate in the VFW's annual Washington Conference. During the VFW's conference, fellows will join with VFW advocates from their respective states to discuss the shared VFW-SVA policy priority with lawmakers and their staff on Capitol Hill. This culminating experience enables fellows to employ the skills they learned throughout their fellowship to affect meaningful policy change as students and as future leaders.

   Operating for more than a decade, the VFW-SVA Legislative Fellowship continues to be a beacon of collaboration between two organizations whose passions are rooted in serving veterans. Student veterans who complete this program often continue to make noteworthy local and national contributions to the veteran community through myriad roles including those in leadership, service and advocacy. Notable program alumni include, but are not limited to, SVA's very own Vice President of Government Affairs, Tammy Barlet; Jennifer Ross, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America Manager of Federal Policy; Katherine Cassell, VFW Assistant Director for Veterans Health Policy; and Ken Wiseman, member of VFW's National Council of Administration and National Legislative Committee.

   To interview any of the selected fellows, contact VFW National Legislative Service Associate Director, Joe Grassi, at jgrassi@vfw.org.

   About SVA:With a focused mission on empowering student veterans, Student Veterans of America® (SVA) is committed to providing an educational experience that goes beyond the classroom. Through a dedicated network of nearly 1,600 on-campus chapters in all 50 states and 4 countries representing more than 750,000 student veterans, SVA aims to inspire yesterday's warriors by connecting student veterans with a community of like-minded chapter leaders. Every day these passionate leaders work to provide the necessary resources, network support, and advocacy to ensure student veterans can effectively connect, expand their skills, and ultimately achieve their greatest potential. For more information, visit us at studentveterans.org.
   

4. VFW to Washington Post - Veterans' Disability Benefits are Not 'Loopholes' to Exploit

   To the Editors of The Washington Post,

   Your recent article, "How some veterans exploit $193 billion VA program, due to lax controls" (October 2025), is not just a disservice to veterans - it is a dangerously misleading piece that feeds into damaging stereotypes and ignores both the moral and legal foundations of the Department of Veterans Affairs disability system.

   Let's be absolutely clear: veterans' disability benefits are not charity. They are compensation owed for injuries and conditions incurred in the line of duty - promised by a government that asked men and women to risk their lives and health, often irreversibly, on its behalf. These benefits are not some "loopholes" for opportunists to exploit; they are the very least this country can do for the people it sent to war repeatedly, especially after more than two decades of sustained conflict without a draft.

   Your article leans heavily on inflammatory anecdotes and edge cases, portraying veterans as system abusers, while ignoring the structural reality: combat wounds are not the only occupational hazards of military service. The daily grind of service - exposure to toxic environments, repeated concussions, sleep deprivation, moral injury, sexual trauma, constant stress, and grueling physical demands - leaves lasting scars. Just because a veteran wasn't blown up by an IED doesn't mean they aren't disabled.

   Invisible injuries like PTSD, traumatic brain injury, and toxic exposure-related illnesses are not "new" or suspect; we just finally stopped ignoring them. Every generation of veterans before this one suffered in silence, and many died without care or acknowledgment. To now say that recognizing these conditions is proof of fraud is not only illogical - it is cruel.

   The article also seems to misunderstand how VA disability ratings work. The system doesn't compensate based solely on whether someone can work. It compensates based on how a service-connected condition impairs a veteran's average ability to function in life and society. The fact that a veteran can hold a job doesn't mean their disability doesn't make daily life harder, more painful, or more isolating. If VA ratings were based solely on complete incapacity, we wouldn't see skyrocketing rates of veteran suicide, addiction, homelessness, or divorce - all of which are fueled not by fraud, but by the very real and too often dismissed cost of military service.

   Lastly, let's not ignore what this article really reflects: veterans make an easy scapegoat for the elites of this country. We're a small percentage of the population. Many Americans are disconnected from the wars they authorized or ignored. It is politically and socially convenient to question the integrity of veterans rather than confront the true cost of 25 years of war. But the cost is real. And the obligation to those who bore it is not optional.

   If your investigative team wants to find waste and fraud, start with the contractors who overbill, the generals who fail upward, the executives of squandered programs, or the politicians who wave flags while gutting oversight. But don't you dare turn on America's sons and daughters who carried the burden of service and now ask only for the care and compensation they were promised.

   We veterans kept our end of the agreement and will continue to demand that those who asked us to defend our nation do the same. Honor The Contract.

   Sincerely,
   Carol Whitmore
   VFW Commander-in-Chief
   
   Read Washington Post article How some veterans exploit $193 billion VA program, due to lax controls.

5. VFW, Torch Drinks LLC Announce a First-of-its-Kind Alliance to Make THC Beverages Available to Eligible VFW Posts

   KANSAS CITY, Mo. -The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) announced today a new agreement with Torch Drinks LLC, the nation's leading hemp-derived THC beverage company based in Florida, to help advance programs serving veterans, service members and their families.

   Torch beverages offer a smoke-free, alcohol-free, plant-based alternative - hemp-derived THC products crafted to promote relaxation, social ease and lifestyle balance. Under the licensing agreement, select VFW-branded Torch beverage products will be made available and proceeds will directly support VFW initiatives such as the National Veterans Service program, which provides no-cost assistance to veterans navigating the VA claims process, and Veterans & Military Support Programs, which deliver financial assistance to military families.

   This new relationship between Torch Drinks LLC and the VFW brings a federally compliant and responsibly formulated, alternative to one of the most respected veteran service organizations in the United States. Torch beverages are crafted with hemp-derived Delta-9 THC using a patent-pending nano-emulsification process, offering another social option for consumers.

   Torch products are carefully dosed and approved by a third-party, DEA accredited lab. The drinks are manufactured in cGMP facilities, ensuring transparency, safety, and consistency. With more than 3 million beverages sold safely nationwide, Torch Drinks LLC has established itself as a leader in both compliance and consumer trust.

   State and local laws vary so the agreement will only take effect in jurisdictions where these products are permitted. Our teams will work closely with legal advisors to ensure full compliance across all markets.

   "Torch Drinks is proud to work with the VFW to provide veterans with a safe, federally compliant, social alternative that is like none other," said Collin Kerrigan, co-founder of Torch Beverage Company. "Customers tell us Torch products help promote relaxation and revitalization, which is why we want to make it more widely available to people and veterans who may enjoy it. It is our mission to support the men and women who serve the United States in uniform while promoting ongoing research and discussions about innovative health solutions. It is truly an honor and a privilege to make this announcement."

   "The VFW's top priority is ensuring that veterans and their families receive the care, benefits and support they have earned through their service," said VFW National Commander Carol Whitmore. "Working with Torch helps us raise funds for those vital programs while also allowing us to explore better ways to meet the needs of an evolving veterans' community."

   The VFW recognizes the importance of providing veterans with alternatives to alcohol consumption, and through this relationship the VFW can provide members in states where Torch beverages are legal with alcohol alternatives that may better benefit veterans coping with service-connected injuries, chronic pain or the invisible wounds of war.

   Availability to VFW Posts will begin later this year, alongside education programs and responsible-use initiatives tailored for veterans and their families.

   -vfw-

   About Torch Drinks LLC
   Torch Drinks LLC is a leading innovator in hemp-derived Delta-9 products, creating unique, legal, and flavorful THC beverages that deliver quality and enjoyment. Committed to transparency, compliance, and customer satisfaction, Torch Drinks bring the power of hemp to a whole new audience and provide retailers confidence in fully compliant category entry. Federal laws relaxed in 2018- so can you. All products are derived from 100% legal USA hemp and contain less than 0.3% Delta-9 in accordance with the 2018 Farm Bill. Torch beverage products are not for use or sale to persons under the age of 21 depending on the laws of governing states and territories.