On Monday, Talkeetna’s Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3836 held what might be its last Memorial Day remembrance ceremony.
As the names of veterans who have passed on was read to a crowd of about thirty people at the Talkeetna Cemetery, a bald eagle circled overhead.
The issue currently facing the Talkeetna post is filling its leadership positions. The current post commander, Heidi Anderson, says the schedule demands of her job mean she can no longer serve in a leadership role. In addition, the post needs other positions filled, including its quartermaster, who handles the post’s finances, including its canteen. The deadline for filling those positions is the next post meeting on Friday, June 3rd. If they go unfilled, the post will lose its charter and the lease on its current building.
Aside from events like Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and Independence Day observances, the canteen is Post 3836’s most visible presence. As part of the push to bring in new leadership, Anderson has been promoting the less visible contributions the post makes. The most notable of those is the donation of funds raised through pull-tabs and other gaming. According to Anderson, the post has contributed more than $88,000 to other local non-profits from pull tab sales, the moose drop, and other raffles.
If the post loses its charter, it would also mean the loss of the VFW Auxiliary, which also conducts charitable activities, including distribution of hats and gloves to local children as well as scholarships.
Part of the difficulty of finding candidates for new officer positions comes from the VFW’s membership requirements. To qualify, a veteran must have served in a conflict on foreign soil or hostile waters.
Mel Sheppard is part of the local post and also serves in leadership at the state level. He says the VFW is having trouble replenishing members in many communities as veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts are less interested in joining than those from previous generations.
The meeting to determine the future of Talkeetna’s VFW post will be held on June 3rd at 7:00 pm.
