When I tell veterans and stakeholders that I am organizing a VFW in New Haven, the first thing they ask is “where is the post?” With no building and no money (other than membership dues), this was difficult to answer. After answering a number of times honestly but sheepishly, it dawned on me it is also a selling point.
You see, when I talk to fellow VFW comrades from established posts, the number one thing they talk about is how few members come around the post to help out. They feel put upon that they are doing all the work. They are the “saviors” of the post and some are outright resentful. In some cases, it sounds like self-imposed drudgery for the post commanders.
That said, instead of “admiring the problem,” there are few ways of addressing the issue:
- Hire contractors to maintain post (outsource).
- Find volunteers to maintain post (outsource).
- Increase intrinsic motivation of members to maintain post home (value proposition).
- Increase extrinsic motivation of members to maintain post (reward system).
- Liquidate the post home and rent/borrow a post room (downsize).
- Turn off the lights. Turn in charter. Department sells post (dissolve).
I tell new prospects we don’t have a roof to fix, a hall to heat, or a liquor license to worry about. I also tell them historically, this is how posts began–by borrowing meeting places. For example, New London Post 189 used to meet in the Salvation Army Service Men’s clubrooms in the Neptune Building downtown after they closed their charter in Jan. 1921.
Additionally, without the resource overhead needed to maintain a building (money, manpower), the fledgling post can focus on the VFW’s core mission: bring veterans together, take care of each other, continue to serve our country and our communities. A VFW should have a direction, a purpose, be dedicated to important projects, and be a valuable community resource–not just a skeevey local watering hole. The GWOT veterans I talk to aren’t interested in the stereotypical VFW of cranky veterans in a smoky basement slowly drinking themselves to death. They want to make something new.