Post Dispatch: May 2018
From the Commander:
Thank you to all our members who attended the March and April meetings to start the election process of new officers. Elections will be finalized at the May 24th Post meeting and Installation will be Thursday, May 24th.
Have you heard about our VFW Give Back Thursdays? The Special Event Committee will be picking different community organizations, causes that our Post supports as well as any other causes that may come to our attention and $1 from selected menu items on Thursdays will be donated to the selected cause. April & May donations are going to be donated to the Villa Park Police & Fire Departments to help fund local education programs and the Police Bicycle Patrol. Please consider stopping in at the Post for dinner on Thursdays. What could be better than a great meal and no dishes?
Our VFW special event committee is hard at work planning a variety of entertaining events, community support events and much more! Check out the VFW Event Calendar located on our website for details as they become available.
Are you a FOTP (Friend of the Post)? If so, we have many opportunities for you to fulfil your volunteer hours required with your membership. Do you like to grill? Are you good with your hands? Do you prefer creating flyers or selling raffle tickets? We have something for everyone no matter what your skill set or talent. Please contact us at friendsofpost2801@gmail.com and let us know how and when you can help out.
Did you know we are on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn? Follow us on all of these social media platforms and check our website www.villaparkvfw.org to be the first to know about new events and other happenings at Post 2801.
Thank you to everyone for your support of Post 2801, I look forward seeing all of you at one of the many upcoming special events, celebrations or the weekly fish fry.
Respectfully,
Rick Schwerdtner, Commander Post 2801
From the Auxiliary:
We continue to do well with running the Kitchen every Tuesday night and providing a great menu for Bingo attendees….. a big thanks to John Adamowski for his ever changing menu. We are starting our own Facebook Page as well, so keep eyes out for that. One of our younger members recently felt the Post was missing something that he remembered being at the Post every week on display. He took it up on himself to research and donate to the Post a “Missing Man” table or “Fallen Comrade” table (sometimes known as a MIA table). Thank you to Anthony Roder for this. Be sure to stop by on Friday for it is on display at each Fish Fry on the Oak Room stage.
The Auxiliary has purchased for display a “Battlefield Cross” (rifle, boots, helmet) for the Post, that is also on display on the stage as well. In the coming weeks we will be moving it to the main stairwell where Scott Lee, a FOTP member, is constructing a platform to be mounted to the wall and this statue will then be proudly displayed and lit. It will be flanked by 2 cabinets on each side to display memorabilia of our members, and below will be a large oak wall that will forever immortalize our members of the Post.
Be the first to know about upcoming Auxiliary and VFW events – be sure to “like” Villa Park VFW on facebook and follow us on twitter and Instagram.
I look forward to seeing everyone at the next meeting.
Virginia Proffitt
Auxilliary President
From the Quartermaster:
I regret to say, this is my last term as Quartermaster. It has been an honor to serve as Quartermaster for this Post. I wish the incoming officers and crew the best of luck.
BINGO:
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 now worth over $17,000 total. 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.
PARADE:
July 4th is approaching fast. We are looking for help setting up the Parade and Marshals to work the Parade. Know a marching band? We pay $200 for a band to be in the Parade and $100 for a Color Guard. Call the Post at 630 – 834 – 8191 for information.
Range News:
Happy May! May is Military Appreciation Month. And I want to take a moment to say THANKS to everyone member of our Post who has serve or country. So when you run into one of our Post members extend a hand and say thanks.
Every month I try to recognize one of my RSOs and with this in mind I want to recognize this month Jim Urso. Jim is a Life Member of the VFW and Vietnam Vet. He is our RSO on every Friday afternoons from 3 pm to 5 pm. Jim is an all around great guy and friendly to all. He participates in many of our weekly shoots as well. Check the calendar and come and give Jim a visit, tell him Freddie sent ya, and say thanks. He is always enjoys seeing new faces.
Our Post Gun Show was Saturday April 21. Admission was down from our last, but it was still a successful endeavor. We have scheduled our next one in November and will be having them for now at least twice a year.
I want to say congrats to Dean Hill as well as Brian Cameron who came out to the Gun Show purchase raffle tickets for the Glock and the XDS we were raffling off, and won! Raffle tickets are still on sale at the lower level bar for our Post Edition Henry Golden Boy only a handful of ticket remaining so come get yours and support our Post. Tickets are $10 each.
The Range was shut down the April 30th to do a trap clean out. BTS cleaned the trap and removed over 80 buckets of lead for recycling. THANKS TO BTS for this. Watch the calendar for future range closures for some maintenance such as re-painting the floor as well as just a general “spring cleaning” and curtain replacement. W will be calling on volunteers for this.
We had a first Tactical .22 night on May 4th and it appears to be a success. Watch for more dates and times.
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.
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.
The post sponsors shooting team that shoots NRA/Winchester Programs and meets every 1st and 3rd Sunday and we are considering expanding the shooting options. We have openings for more youth, if you know of anyone interested in becoming a team member please contact Fred Roder.
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.
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
VFW members and friends – please consider supporting our Comrade, Bob Bachner ( a life member of Post 2801) his wife Ellen and family. Their daughter was injured in a devastating accident the weekend of April 28th. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers and, if possible, donate to the Go Fund Me account to help the family and allow them to focus on their daughters recover. To donate to the Go Fund Me Account use this link https://www.gofundme.com/help-bachner-family. There are also many other fundraisers going on throughout Villa Park, Lombard and surrounding towns to help all of the victims of this tragic accident. There will be a car wash at Glenbard East on Saturday, May 12th https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10215942701782156&set=a.2259241162265.2132773.1285471310&type=3&theater . Please watch our facebook page for more ways to help support the 12 teenage victims.
To our Friends, Community and Neighbors:
Many of our Friends of the Post have found out that being a part of our Post is rewarding.
Friends of the Post have the honor of belonging to a very special Post. WE have things most other Posts do not. We have a relatively new members bar, rental halls, and of course a gun range that any member may use or rent. As an F.O.T.P. member all we ask is that you give back to the Post in ways of volunteering your time. It is our volunteers that make our Post so successful.
We have many opportunities to volunteer and we can always use ones help. WE have Bingo every Tuesday night where we can use help selling various games and cards. Thursday nights we can use help in our kitchen cooking or after wards cleaning up, We also need help on Fridays during lent with cooking, order taking, seating patrons, and of course cleanup afterwards. We even have ongoing projects around the building. DON’T let any of this stuff scare you off. We have many folks here who will be glad to show you how we here at the Post do things. SO come out and give us a hand, try something new, and remember you need not be Wolfgang Puck to cook, we welcome everyone. Our busy time of the year is fast approaching and that is Lent, where on Fish Fry Fridays we can use all the help we can get. So check out the many events on our web page www.villaparkvfw.org, or call the office and ask what you can do for your Post
The Auxiliary has an email list of The F.O.T.P Members to keep them up to date of changes so if you want to get on the list email us at friendsofpost2801@gmail.com.
Remember all of us here are committed to giving our members a safe and fun place to come as well as giving back to our Post and our community
The Auxiliary of VFW post 2801