Post Dispatch: December 2018
From the Commander:
Hi, I am Sam Maggio the new post commander. I want to say hello to all my comrades, the auxiliary, the friends of the post and our public. I am grateful to be at this post because I feel that it’s one of the best in the suburbs. I have actually been coming to the post since I was about 14 for the Friday night dances way back when.
I am a Viet Nam combat veteran and was there in 1967 and 68. I was invited down from Wheaton to raise money for poppies something that I have been doing for about 12 years.
I have been a member of the VFW for about 28 years. One of the best things about this post is the wonderful volunteers that keep the post alive. They are what make us great.
We have a wonderful new chef, Dominick Palmers, who was in the food business for 40 years and is doing a great job. We have a first class fish fry with soup, salads, coffee and deserts.
We have a great bingo on Tuesday nights and we need volunteers like always. If you want to help the post and the community, come on down, we can use you. We have always tried to have a good standing in the community and be there for the public.
I have a couple of new things I would like to do. One is I am going to resurrect blind night that we used to do at Wheaton. We will try to get some blind vets from Hines hospital to come out and enjoy an evening with food, music and maybe some bingo.
I am also going to try to book some great local bands for Saturday nights next year. We welcome any donations that you can spare. We want to keep this VFW alive for the generations to come. We are thinning out and need members. If we thin out too much, the government will forget us and we will lose our voice.
Everyone have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and whatever else you celebrate. Drive safely so we can do this again next year. Commander Sam
From the Auxiliary:
November was a very busy month! Many of have taken on several other events.
Besides your regular volunteering every month at Bingo, Hines Bingo, Give Back Thursday and Friday Fish Fry’s.
We hosted the 19th District meeting on Sunday November 18th 2018 the auxiliary met at the Community Recreation Center and the post members were at the post..Ron Bakes, Mary Ciszek, Kathy Cumbee, Ashyia Clark, Virginia Proffitt , Debbie Wesoloski for preparing the lunch at the meeting.
Chris Breyne, 19th District president honored our auxiliary for being one of two auxiliaries 100% reported in all our programs and up to date in our audit. We accomplished this by reporting all your volunteer hours, donations and sending the audits in on time. Thank you!!
Next project was the Thanksgiving baskets for families in need. Virginia Proffitt and Jeanne Beyer co-chaired this project. They spent many hours collecting, purchasing and organizing many volunteers to fill and distribute boxes. Each family went home with a turkey, stuffing mix, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, butter, milk, rolls, pie, gravy and vegetables I can’t even name all the volunteers who helped.
A huge thank you to West Suburban Bank for partnering with Post 2801 to make sure we had the funds necessary to complete over 100 Thanksgiving Dinner Baskets.
Then we were the host for 50 recruits from Great Lakes Naval Base on Thanksgiving Day November 22nd 2018 The committee of Mike Hahn, Rhoda Siwak, Larry Soderalski, Marilyn Piraino, Rae and myself. Marilyn organized volunteers for the day.
Larry arranged to have Willowbrook High School culinary students prepared the main meal. Rhoda worked with the Teamster, who donated the turkeys, hams, sweet potatoes,
white potatoes, stuffing mix and green beans, gravy and cranberries. Larry, Rae, Mike, Rhoda, contacted stores to get deserts, milk, butter and other items needed for the day.
Mike arranged the bus to bring the recruits to the post.
I helped wherever I needed with setup and decorations. We all hustled to get to what was need for a fantastic day!!
Ashyia and Keith Clark set up computers in the Acorn room so recruits could contact their families. Verizon and the many volunteers provided phones for them to call home.
Our speaker was Colonel Baker and the recruits sang for us. The young men and women enjoyed visiting with their families and the volunteers. Everyone enjoyed the day.
Again we had so many volunteers that I can’t even begin to name them all.
Thank you to everyone who volunteered at any or all of these events November was a very busy month!
I apologize if I didn’t mention your name it was very hard to keep track of everyone.
Dates to Remember:
Saturday December 1st – Joyful Traditions 6-8pm
Friday December 7th – Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day
Monday December 10th – Auxiliary meeting and Christmas Party 7:30pm
Tuesday December 11th – Hines Bingo – Psychiatric Ward
Wednesday December 12th – Hines Bingo – Spinal Ward
Tuesday December 25th – Merry Christmas
Monday December 31st – New Year’s Eve
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!
Loyally,
Jan Bakes Auxiliary President
From the Quartermaster:
Bingo is held every Tuesday, rain or shine. Doors open at 4:30 and sales start at 5:30. Early Bird Bingo is at 6:45 and Regular Bingo starts at 7:00. We have over $2,000 in prizes for Bingo weekly, plus four Raffles bn. For Post Members: Bingo needs workers. In the last year several long-term workers have died, entered long-term care or just moved away. We need people willing to commit to Bingo on a regular, long-term basis. Bingo workers essentially sell things – Pull Tabs, Raffle tickets and Bingo cards. These three incomes are vital to the Post’s revenues. So, if you can spend some time on a Tuesday, come on down and help the Post.
Range News:
This month we will forgo the RSO of the month and introduce everyone to Ed Duran. Ed is a VFW member of the Post, a Marine and one of our RSOs on Thursday morning. With Rob taking a step back as our CRSO, Ed has volunteered to step in and take over this position. The job as CRSO is a very important part in the daily operation of our Range and Ed more than qualifies. Ed will be making the rounds to visit our RSOs on the range so if you run into him give him a big hello, or come on a Thursday morning when he is running the range.
The Range is singing and a new year is just a few weeks away. We will be having a little fund raiser at the Post on Friday Dec. 21st starting at 630 pm, the theme for the shoot is “A Post Xmas Story, Help Ralphie defeat Black Bart”. So come on down and have dinner at the Post and then mosey on down to the range and give Ralphie a hand. Cost is $10 and Firearm and ammo will be provided. Everyone is a winner but 1 in 5 receive a reward and some lucky folks can win a MAJOR AWARD!
We here at the Post will be making an attempt to bring more of these shooting type fundraisers to a Friday night next year.
The Post hosted a Gun Show on Nov. 10th, which was a BIG success. We have booked dates for 2 shows next year as well, next one is May 11th, the day before Mother’s Day for all you last minute shoppers. We still have some tickets left for our 6 Gun Raffle, as soon as the tickets are sold we pull a winner. Information and tickets will be available in the Canteen (lower level bar) Congrats to VFW Member Jason B. who won the VFW Post 2801 Henry Rifle
Update on our RO Tom Kopera from our Thursday night shoots is that he is back home and healing well, but has a long road yet ahead. Seems like all our thoughts and prayers have been helping and we continue to wish him a speeding recovery.
Shooters remember with a New Year comes a new Hold Harmless. We will be accepting new Hold Harmless forms from our shooters for the 2019 year starting Dec. 19th. 2019 HH forms can only be accepted if one has renewed their membership. SO if you’re in the range and have renewed your membership (2019 card will be required) in the Post for next year, you can fill out the new form.
Remember Shooters, we want your opinion. We here at the Range are trying everything we can to make our range more accommodating for our shooters. If our shooters have any suggestions please email us with your ideas.
Are you remembering the F in VFW stands for FUN? Well the V is for Veterans and the W is for WOW! Come check us out and have some FUN, talk to a few VET’s and say WOW what a great place. We have had many who once they have come in to our VFW want to make it theirs too.
If you’re a licensed CCW holder and your renewal is coming up, we have instructors that use our facility for classes. Email us and we can give you names and contact info for you to schedule a class.
Check Range calendar on our web page www.villaparkvfw.org, hover over Range then click on membership to see all the new days and times when the range is staffed. Click on the name on any day and it will show the hours that an RSO is there. If on the calendar you do not see the range staffed at a time you would like to use or if you have any questions what so ever including membership or who can use our state of the art range please contact us at vfwpost2801range@gmail.com or 630-939-1278.
THANKS again to all our RSO’s who volunteer their time to staff our range on a weekly basis. We function almost 7 days a week. Watch for info on upcoming shoots.
We of the Range Committee and our RSO’s are committed to giving our members a safe and fun place to shoot; as well as giving back to our post.
Fred Roder
The year is winding down and we here at VFW Post 2801 are looking towards 2019 and a new year of promising events supporting our Veterans, our Post, our Members and our community.
I want to take a moment for a HUGE THANK YOU TO Scott Lee, a FOTP member, for his amazing donation and terrific job on the new cabinet and statue stand in our main stair well. Another shout out to Ken Mount, and Auxiliary member Anthony Roder who literally stood on the cabinet and got them hung; and to FOTP Vic Baluczynski and Auxiliary member Christopher Roder for their help in heaving them up and holding those in place to get them hung. Recently Post member Ralph Berg and Auxiliary Member Anthony Roder ran wires for a new track light over the cabinet, a big thanks to them for doing this. We here at the post look forward to its completion and the many items from members that will be on display. We hope to add a large wooden wall beneath it for the names of our members that have passed. Take a look it is great.
We have a few functions coming up that we can always need help with. Below are what we have in store for the rest of the year where you can still get your hours complete….
EVERY Thursday from 530-730 pm (or 8) we have “Give Back Thursdays” where we need help in our kitchen, cooking, plating and serving and cleaning. (2 or 3 people each week)
EVERY Friday from 5 to 830 pm for our Fish Fry. We can always use kitchen support, seaters, servers and clean up (clean up starts at 730) pm
ALMOST Every Saturday Morning and Sunday Morning we need assistance in “flipping and cleaning” our Banquet room from an event the night before.
WEEKLY we need help in the day time on a Wednesday or Thursday prepping for our Fish Fry by cutting lemons and filling sauces.
Contact the Office at 630-834-8191 for information. You can leave your name and number and they will get back to you