CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx — Veteran of Foreign Wars Post 9170, is a veteran's organization that was built in 1983. Now, officials tell us they're at risk of shutting down.
"I was in the military. My boyfriend was and his brother. My grandpa and my dad as well,” Beeville resident, Clarissa Camps said.
Campos has lived in Beeville more than 40 years. She's had some challenges and the Beeville VFW helped her through it all.
"They threw some benefits for me when I had to get surgeries done but that was 20 years ago,” Campos said.
The VFW offers supports by educating the Beeville community about the military, donating money to other organizations and even giving out scholarships.
All that can go away with the local post at risk of shutting down.
Either way, Clarissa said it's just not the same VFW post she grew up with.
"We need to show the community that the VFW is not just a bunch of old drunk men. That's what brought this to my attention,” Campos said.
I took Clarissa’s concerns to the Post Quarter Master Luis Pulido.
"Business is slow and that's our biggest issue right now on the VFW side. We want to get business back going again. That way we can do the community service that we're not only required to do but want to do,” Pulido said. "We want to stress that the canteen is not the VFW. The canteen is just our fundraiser."
Another problem he said, is not having a lot of new members.
"The younger guys that are running that place now also have careers,” Pulido said. “They have lives and families. So, it's really hard for us to put on a good fundraiser for the post and that way we can do our voice of democracy and patriot's pin. Those are the scholarships that we do."
Pulido plans to engage the community and ask more veterans to sign-up.
"We're doing our first fundraiser that will hopefully get us back on our feet. That way we can out money in our general fund, our relief fund. That is what supports our veterans,” Pulido said.
First helping veterans and then focusing on the community.
The Post Quarter Master tells me they'll have a fundraiser dinner scheduled for Saturday Feb, 24.
The goal is sell $5,000 to get them back on track.
