VFW2216 - Staunton Virginia

Purpose

Q: What is the VFW?
A: It is the oldest combat veteran’s service organization in the United States. It was established in 1899 and subsequently chartered by act of Congress on 28 May 1936.

Q: What does the VFW do?
A: It is a fraternal, patriotic, historical and charitable organization that preserves and strengthens comradeship among its members through the assistance of worthy veterans and their families (especially widows and orphans), honoring those veterans who have gone before us, assisting in our local communities and maintaining true allegiance to the government of the United States and fidelity to its constitution and laws.

OUR MISSION: “HONOR THE DEAD, BY HELPING THE LIVING”.

Q: Who is eligible for membership?
A: Any citizen of the United States who: Served honorably as a member of the Armed Forces of the United States in a foreign war, insurrection, or expedition, where service has been recognized by the award of a US campaign medal or badge; service in Korea or its territorial waters for 30 days consecutive/60 days non-consecutive; or who has been entitled to receive Hostile Fire or Imminent Danger Pay.

Q: How many veterans are members of the VFW?
A: Total VFW over 1.72 million; in the Department of Virginia almost 35,000.

Q: You mentioned Department, what does that mean?
A: We have 54 Departments in our National organization, which is worldwide. There is one for each state plus the District of Columbia, Europe, Asia/Pacific Region and the Latin American/Caribbean Region. The Departments are divided into Districts and in some cases County Councils which are comprised of the most important element: the individual Posts is where a vast majority of our good work is accomplished.

Q: How many Districts and County Councils does Virginia have?
A: We have 13 Districts. We don’t have County Councils because the state is small enough to be able to operate without that additional element.

Q: How do you determine who does what within the organization?
A: Officers are elected by the membership. Any member can run for any office.

Q: When and how often do you hold meetings?
A: Posts are required to hold meetings at least once a month. Some Posts hold meetings twice a month. It is up to the membership to decide the day and time and whether they want to hold more than one meeting per month. Our membership has voted to hold meetings once a month on the second Monday of every month at 7:30. A covered dish meal begins at 6:30.

Q: Are members required to attend all meetings?
A: While we encourage all members to attend, it is not required. Some members join just to add their support to helping us carry out our programs and projects.

Q: How does a VFW Post help the community through assistance?
A: In a variety of ways depending on local needs and the resources available to the Post. It may be through highway cleanups, donations to a volunteer fire department, community blood drives, park enhancement/cleanups, providing flags for school classrooms, disaster assistance, election volunteers, and education to name a few ways.

Q: How does the VFW assist the community through education?
A: To name a few programs there is VOD, Patriots Pen, Military Scholarship Program, Teacher of the Year, Scouting and Veterans in the Classroom.

Q: What is VOD and how does it work?
A: VOD is our Voice of Democracy Program. It is a scholarship program that was established in 1947 to provide assistance to high school students in furthering their education. It is an audio-essay contest whose theme changes each year and is open to all students in the 9th through 12th grades who have not participated and won first place at the Department level in any previous year. There is scholarship money to be won at the Post, District and Department level as well as at the National level. All students chosen as first place in their Departments are brought to Washington DC to meet their counterparts and to participate in a week of supervised educational and sightseeing programs during the final week of competition. While the first prize at the National level is $30,000 the VFW gave out over $3 million in scholarship money last year alone. This year’s theme is “Service and Sacrifice by America’s Veterans Benefit Today’s Youth by”.

Q: What is Patriot’s Pen?
A: This is another scholarship competition designed for the middle school students in the form of a written essay contest. Again there is competition and scholarship money awarded at all levels, and the first prize at National is a $10,000 bond. This year’s theme is “Why America’s Veterans Should be Honored””.

Q: What is the Teacher of the Year Program?
A: This program is designed to recognize the top teachers in their field at the K-5, 6-8 and 9-12 grade levels where the teachers are regularly teaching and promoting the history and traditions of America. They can be nominated by fellow teachers, supervisors or interested individuals. They receive recognition and awards at all levels to include National recognition in Washington DC as a part of our Community Services Awards Week where they and their school are awarded $1,000.

Q: Do you have other community recognition programs?
A: Yes. We also recognize Boy Scouts, Law Enforcement, Firefighters and EMTs.

Q: How do you assist veteran’s families?
A: Through a variety of programs such as MAP/UNMET Needs, Operation Uplink, etc... Active duty member’s families sometimes receive assistance through our “Military Assistance/Unmet Needs Program” which assists them for unforeseen circumstances, such as car repairs, medical bills, appliance replacement or repair, etc... Each case is evaluated on a case by case basis to determine the need. This program also provides assistance in setting up seminars for educational and employment enhancement for returning veterans and their families.

Q: What is Operation Uplink?
A: It is a program that was started using free phone cards to enable the deployed service members and our hospitalized veterans in our VA Medical Centers (Hampton, Richmond and Salem) to make contact with loved ones back home, but is evolving with a more sophisticated computer age. We’re now setting up computer banks with free time that allows instant communication.

Q: You mentioned helping widows and orphans, can you elaborate?
A: The VFW has established the VFW National Home in Eaton Rapids, Michigan devoted to the developmental, social and spiritual needs of the children and families of VFW members in need. The site is a 74 building complex located on 629 acres that is fully integrated into the neighboring community and houses such facilities as 34 single family homes, two duplexes, a library, chapel, community center, guest house, nursery school, children’s computer lab as well as administration and maintenance buildings. The Dept. of Virginia VFW sponsors one of the single family homes called the Virginia Cottage.

Q: Can you give an example of veteran’s assistance?
A: Each VFW Post has a Service Officer whose duty it is to assist veterans and their families in obtaining rightful entitlements from the federal and state governments, in the preparation of the proper forms for applying for such entitlements and in assembling evidence required in connection with those claims. While the level of expertise varies from Post to Post, each Post Service Officer is provided with a VFW Service Officer Guide that helps answer questions or gives guidance on where to go to resolve issues and questions. That information can be sent to a State Service Officer who will file the claim for our veterans.

Q: Why do veterans become members of the VFW?
A: For a variety of reasons. Some are more interested in the camaraderie; some like to volunteer for work in the community or with our youth; some for the work we do for veteran’s entitlements and assistance as I mentioned before, some just to lend their support for our legislative efforts.

Q: What legislative efforts?
A: All veterans entitlements come about as a result of legislation enacted either at the federal or state level. We meet with our representatives in Washington, DC and Richmond throughout the year to bring their attention to our concerns on a variety of issues such as veteran’s entitlements, national security, foreign affairs and the like. (In fact we just completed a day on the hill in Washington the first part of September or Richmond in January). Plus the VFW has a full time staff in DC to stay in constant contact with the congressional offices and to keep the membership up to date on issues.

Q: Do VFW members do all this work on their own?
A: No. We are very fortunate in that we have our Ladies and/or Men’s Auxiliaries.

Post 2216 would like to thank the Department Officers, Kim DeShano, Hal Roesch, Roy Swanner, Rex, Faris, C. D. “Doc” Crouch, and Ray Wells for putting this information together. Thanks guys!