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American Legion, VFW attract few young vets

GALESBURG, Ill. — The future of VFW Post 2257 might hinge on the lifespan of its worn-out, 50-year-old boiler and attendance at weekly bingo games this winter.

Like many Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion posts, Post 2257 in this western Illinois city of 31,000 people is struggling to survive as older members die and younger veterans decide not to join. Nationally, the number of VFW posts declined from 8,374 in 2007 to 7,915 as of June, says spokesman Jerry Newberry. The legion has 14,150 posts, down from 14,260 two years ago, says spokesman John Raughter.

More than a building is at stake here and at other troubled posts, says quartermaster Mike Lummis, who keeps the books for Post 2257. VFW and American Legion posts, both founded to fight for veterans’ benefits and promote patriotism, quickly became havens where veterans could talk with peers about experiences and problems, members say. Beyond the physical posts, both groups have long been vital presences in communities, marching proudly in parades, placing flags in cemeteries and sponsoring scholarships and Little League teams.

Some younger vets buy into the misconception “that all this organization is a bunch of old warriors sitting around blowing smoke and in a lot of places drinking beer and telling war stories,” Lummis says. “Well, that’s not correct at all” — especially at Post 2257, where zoning regulations don’t allow alcohol sales.

“We look after our fellow vets whose lives were never the same and the ones fighting in the current wars and the wars that will come,” Lummis says.

Facing the future

As national membership in the VFW declines — down from 1.9 million in 1999 to 1.5 million as of June — VFW posts have to change, Newberry says. Local posts are encouraged to welcome female vets, offer family friendly programs such as child care and to make veterans who are having trouble with civilian life feel comfortable. “You have to give them a reason to join,” he says.

The legion, whose membership is down from 3.1 million in 1993 to 2.6 million members at the end of last year, is mailing invitations to veterans, including women, and using Facebook and Twitter to tell them about the benefits of belonging, Raughter says. It sponsors youth activities such as baseball to attract vets with young families. “We’re really reaching out,” he says.

Some younger vets aren’t getting the message. Sgt. Charles Brice, 30, who recently returned from Afghanistan, has a good impression of the VFW and legion and visited a VFW post once, but “bingo doesn’t really interest me,” he says.

Ardy Reed, 40, of Attala County, Miss., who served in a Marine Corps Reserve unit during the Persian Gulf War, says he’s busy with work and his young family. He says he associates the legion and VFW with “older guys” who served in World War II or Korea.

For some generations of vets, the organizations still have a strong reputation of fighting for veterans’ benefits, guiding veterans to medical and educational aid and helping them financially.

Disabled Army veteran John Anderson, 67, says American Legion Post 1 in Reno came through for him in a “very desperate situation.” After Anderson’s wife, Mary, 71, had two major surgeries in a short span, the legion “paid the rent and helped us back on our feet,” he says.

Army veteran Bill Bishop, 62 comes to American Legion Post 233 in Lake Orion, Mich., to play pool, but competition isn’t the only draw. “I don’t push people to talk about their experiences, but if they do need to talk, they know they can here,” he says. One of the people Bishop reached out to was preparing for a second Iraq tour and was having “a really rough time.” Two Michigan VFW posts closed this year.

Despite the membership decline, some posts are flourishing. In Delaware, American Legion membership has been at an all-time high for the past decade because of a growing population of military retirees, says state adjutant Ric Santos. Arizona averages one new VFW post each year, says state commander Joe Reagan, and this is the 43rd consecutive year of increasing or steady membership.

In Virginia, VFW membership is expected to rise 10 percent this year over last year’s total of 36,055, says state quartermaster Kim DeShano. The recession is driving people to VFW posts for cheap entertainment and food, he says.

Posts face shortfalls

Still, three Virginia posts closed this year, DeShano says. At VFW Post 2216 in Staunton, Va., only about 20 of 360 members regularly attend meetings, says commander Gilbert Grylls. American Legion Post 13 in Staunton has 220 members, down from 500 about 15 years ago, and adjutant Paul Wolfe says it might sell its building. About half of American Legion and VFW posts nationally do not own buildings, Raughter and Newberry say.

Posts are trying to increase revenue, cut costs and attract members by emphasizing the ways they help veterans:

Lyle Royer, 71, commander of Alley-White American Legion Post 52 in Mountain Home, Ark., says the casual conversation at his post can be vital. “Through socializing, you find out what people need,” he says. The post has 500 members, only 30 of whom are active. In Bull Shoals, Ark., VFW Post 1341 holds 50-cent pool tournaments and tunes its satellite TV to football games to lure younger members.

VFW Post 5318 in Canton, Miss., has 29 members, all but two of whom served in World War II. Quartermaster Oscar Garland says it once had as many as 200 members. The post sold its building and used proceeds to erect a World War II memorial.

Albert Landsperger, state commander of South Carolina’s VFW, says it’s so poor that the Internal Revenue Service had seized its headquarters when he took over in 2007. Last year, the state had 17,515 VFW members; so far this year, it has 13,532.

“I am worried,” says Terry Daugherty, commander of VFW Post 4174 in Lehigh Acres, Fla. “I don’t know how we’ll survive when the Vietnam vets are gone.” Membership is holding steady at about 400, but only about 40 are active.

Nationally, the majority of American Legion members are Vietnam veterans, Raughter says. Newberry says the average age of VFW members is 55-60.

The number of VFW posts in New York state fell from 554 to 546 this year, says state commander Allan Davenport. Tony Ferrarese, 86, a past commander of VFW Post 16 in Greece, N.Y., says it’s no longer “a social service agency for vets” and spends most of its income on parties and picnics for patients at nearby Veterans Affairs facilities.

“You’ve got to keep coming up with things to keep the organization going, the membership behind it,” Ferrarese says.

VFW Post 1087 in Great Falls., Mont., last month hosted personnel from nearby Malmstrom Air Force Base and recruited eight members by stressing its emphasis on families, its smoke-free hall and community service programs. “They went to war. We went to war. We can relate to each other,” says Ray Lutz, who serves on the VFW’s National Council of Administration. Three Montana VFW posts closed in the past three years.

American Legion Post 112 in Elk River, Minn., is fighting for survival, says Floyd Olesen, who helped organize a craft show and Oktoberfest and plans a New Year’s Eve raffle of a 1999 Cadillac to raise money. The post has about 500 members, three-quarters of them veterans of World War II. “None of the younger guys want to get involved,” he says. “I don’t really understand it.”

Hard to get new members

VFW Post 2257, which was chartered in 1931, has about 250 members — down from a peak of more than 500 in the 1980s — but only about a dozen are active, says post commander Gerald Wright, 71.

Lummis says he’s not sure what will happen to his post if the boiler fails or the Saturday bingo crowd, source of half its revenue, dips below 140 people. To cut costs, the post dropped top bingo payouts from $500 to $400, laid off its secretary and stopped giving an annual $500 scholarship.

The post hosts an open house today to dedicate a new sign and serve a free lunch “just to get people coming in the door,” says Lummis, 60, a Vietnam veteran.

Jim Verheyen, 82, who joined the Army in 1945, recalls the time the post invited 200 troops returning from duty in Iraq to a free lunch. He distributed 200 membership applications and “not a one filled them out.”

Its financial woes make it hard to provide the services and activities younger vets want, Lummis says. The post can’t afford the $79 monthly fee for Internet access that would allow members to research benefits, he says.

Because so few members show up to help with bingo, funerals, mowing the lawn and placing flags in cemeteries on Memorial Day, the post isn’t seen as a fun place, says Mike DeWitt, 64, a Vietnam veteran. “The only thing that we really have to offer right now is work,” he says.

VFW Post 2257’s home is a former elementary school with a M-60 tank on the lawn. Inside, there’s a collection of military mementoes that comprise the Stockdale Citizen Soldier Museum, named for the late Navy vice admiral James Stockdale, who was born in nearby Abingdon. The museum also displays military items owned by poet Carl Sandburg, who was born here.

Except for bingo, it’s a quiet place. Until its secretary was laid off last year, it was the transportation hub for area veterans who needed rides to a Veterans Affairs clinic in Iowa City. Now the American Legion post in town handles that task.

Finding enough cash to keep going is the top priority. It costs $2,900 a month, Lummis says, including $3,500 a year for insurance and $2,500 utility bills in winter months.

Annual income is about $30,000. Most of the $25 members pay in annual dues goes to the national VFW. The post rents the building to a state agency for monthly meetings and charges $150-$200 for a few private parties each year. Last year, the post got $1,500 in grants.

Bingo players pay $12 each, but much of that is paid out in prizes. The post makes about $40 each bingo session on food and drink sales and brings in about $350 a month in pull-tab lottery sales before paying 25 percent in taxes.

Post 2257 is wrestling with some tough decisions: Should it suspend bingo over the winter months when attendance dwindles? Increase bingo admission? Host monthly dinners with country music to try to raise money? Sell the building, which it owns?

Members say they’ll keep the post going, even if they have to meet at a local restaurant, but they agree an image change is essential. “I hear people come in and say, ‘I thought you were closed,’” Wright says. “We’re still here. We’re still needed.”