VFW at Work

  • Thanking Vietnam War Vets
    VFW Post 10904 in Manchester, Tennessee, hosted its annual Vietnam-era Veterans Honors Dinner on March 28. Now in its seventh year, the dinner's purpose is to recognize Vietnam veterans and to treat them as they should have been treated when they returned home from Vietnam. The Vietnam-era veterans in attendance were told: -"Thank you for your service;" -"Your cause was just;" and -"Welcome home." The […]
  • 'We Are Going to be Here Until the Families Don't Need Us Anymore'
    A VFW Post in San Diego accepted help from its community when it needed a new refrigerator after the Post's had broken. When the original stopped, volunteers at the Post were in the process of cooking hundreds of meals for displaced flood victims. During an interview with CBS 8 in April, volunteers told the news station that the Post's main industrial refrigerator stopped working and […]
  • Honor the Fallen
    On March 18, VFW Post 637 Operations Manager and VFW Auxiliary Department of Virginia Guard Cara Buckley led a ceremony paying tribute to 12 fallen female war heroes at the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, which has more than 12,000 names on its wall. The ceremony hosted several dignitaries, which included VFW Department of Virginia Commander Gary Adams, as well as Virginia's Auxiliary President Victoria […]
  • A 'Beacon of Hope' for Veterans
    Over the past five years, a VFW District in Virginia has made it its mission to support a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing a haven for veterans with PTSD and their families. Virginia's District 11, based in the heart of the commonwealth, has donated a total of $215,000 to the Boulder Crest Foundation, a nonprofit organization that offers programs free of charge to veterans who […]
  • Family Day
    Through the VFW's National Military Assistance Program (MAP), members of VFW Post 8273 in Frisco, Texas, helped feed more than 2,500 active-duty troops and their families on March 3. The Post co-sponsored a "Family Day" event in honor of the 301st Fighter Wing at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth, Texas, supplying 11 pallets filled with a variety of drinks, snacks […]
  • 'We Are Honored to Render the Proper Respect to All American Flags'
    Being heralded for years as the primary place for the retirement of U.S. flags in the county, members of VFW Post 2391 in St. Augustine, Florida, wanted to upgrade its site and ceremony. Under the direction of Post 2391 Quartermaster Bob Bewsee, who oversees the Post's Honor Guard and more than 1,000 flag-retirement events a month, design plans for a new beautification project began in […]
  • Third Annual VFW Day of Service is Coming Soon
    VFW Posts around the country are amping up for the third annual VFW Day of Service on May 4. That date kicks off a month of veteran-led community service projects. The Day of Service is an outgrowth of the VFW's #StillServing initiative that launched in 2020 and has since brought recognition to how much U.S. military veterans continue to serve in their communities after they […]
  • Prison Inmates Donate to VFW
    When VFW Post 7168 in Sanger, California, struggled financially five years ago, Jim Anderson found help in the unlikeliest of places. Anderson, who had transferred to Post 7168 to help it stay open, brought this up to a group of incarcerated veterans he sponsored and met with weekly at the Avenal State Prison in Avenal, California. "Since I started doing a little bit of counseling […]
  • 'We Know How to Do This'
    Since the VFW's inception nearly 125 years ago, its members' pursuance to help communities ravaged by natural disasters remains undeterred. Under the VFW mantle, veterans from across the country annually carry out missions to combat the harsh aftermath of floods, wildfires, typhoons or hurricanes ravaging communities. Most recently, in early August, when wildfires ravaged portions of Maui in the Hawaiian Islands, VFW members worked together […]
  • VFW's Day of Service Sees Increase in Participating Posts
    VFW members around the world delved into VFW's second annual Day of Service this year, an initiative to engage veterans, service members and local advocates in a widespread attempt to make a meaningful impact in their communities. This year's Day of Service built on the success of its inaugural event last year, growing its total number of grassroots events by more than 20 percent. VFW […]
  • 'It's Amazing to See How Grateful They Are'
    A VFW Post in San Antonio is doing their part when it comes to fighting food insecurity in its community. Since July, VFW Post 8397 in San Antonio has distributed about 43,000 pounds of groceries to food-insecure families in the San Antonio area. In partnership with Humana, the Post holds a food distribution drive for needy families on the second Saturday of each month. Cris […]
  • 'We Try to Be There for All of Them'
    Long before becoming commander of the first VFW Post established on an active-duty U.S. military installation last year, Willie Keller had seen the possibilities with a credulous eye. Joined by other founding members of Post 12209 on Fort Cavazos (formerly Fort Hood) near Killeen, Texas, Keller set out to serve as an example of how a VFW Post on an active military installation can help […]
  • 'Having Veterans Around Makes Me Feel Good'
    Fabian Lee Martinez served in the Navy from 2001 to 2012 to pursue two of his goals. "I wanted to serve my country and be a firefighter," he said. "I was able to do both by joining." Today, Martinez is #StillServing in his hometown of Lubbock, Texas, as a member of VFW Post 2466. He also works at Texas Tech University as a school certifying […]
  • VFW and Humana Provide 30 Tons of Food
    If you attended the 124th VFW National Convention in Phoenix this year, you probably noticed a group of volunteers lined up at tables with bowls of seeds in front of them. They were a part of the Uniting to Combat Hunger seed-packing event that will provide about 30 tons of vegetables for families suffering from food insecurity. Those seeds will be sent across the country […]
  • $1,000 for Student Musicians
    A VFW Post in the Buckeye State donated $1,000 to their high school's music program. VFW Post 3360 in Defiance, Ohio, presented a check to the band's assistant director Erin Blackwood during a ceremony at the Post in September. VFW Post 3360 member Stacy Hilton, an Army veteran who served in Bosnia and Croatia, said that the Post already has a deep relationship with the […]
  • 'Perspective and Team Work'
    For their VFW Day of Service in May 2023, VFW Post 1533 members in San Antonio split their time into two volunteer sessions at the San Antonio Food Bank. A cohort of 18 Post members spent more than three hours apiece on May 16 and May 19, respectively, working out of the San Antonio Food Bank's warehouse sorting and packing food for those suffering from […]
  • 'It Was Really an Outstanding Transformation'
    Mark Little had been thinking about renovations for some time, but he hadn't considered a Home Depot grant until a fellow VFW member from a different Post brought it up. Little, commander at VFW Post 4736 in Greenfield, Ohio, took it upon himself to follow through with the suggestion last year by contacting his local Home Depot. "It was out of curiosity, but I reached […]
  • 'It's Honestly a Pleasure'
    For more than a decade, VFW Post 7059 members in Farmville, Virginia, have devoted themselves to honoring all veterans spending their twilight years within the confines of local hospice care. Unwilling to let their predecessors sit in obscurity, Post 7059 members in 2013 began visiting The Woodland, a local hospice housing several veterans, where they have since hosted a ceremony spotlighting each member's service on […]
  • 'A Critical Service to Families'
    VFW Post honor guards conducting three-volley salutes at funerals for veterans and service members has been a time-honored tradition practiced since the organization's founding in 1899. While many know that VFW Post honor guards use firearms to salute their dearly departed fellow veterans, most may not know where those firearms and ammunition blanks come from. The Army-Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command, which is in Warren, Michigan, […]
  • More than 12,000 Pounds of Food
    Since 2019, VFW Post 2667 and its Auxiliary members have donated canned food and peanut butter and jelly to the One Roof Ecumenical Alliance Outreach in their hometown of Newnan, Ga., as well as Bridging the Gap, the Salvation Army and The I-58 Mission. According to Janet Alford, secretary/historian of Post 2667 Auxiliary, members are encouraged to bring jars of peanut butter and jelly to […]