American Legion and Fayetteville VFW Hold a Summer Ice Cream Social

The Fayetteville Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and the American Legion, located at 2700 Wilson Parkway, hosted a summer ice cream social on Sunday, August 1st between twelve and three. Along with free ice cream, the American Legion and the Fayetteville VFW were giving away free school supplies to anybody who needed it, whether they were a veteran or not.

All of the school supplies were donations courtesy of Operation Homefront and Dollar Tree. Operation Homefront is a national 105 (c)(3) nonprofit. Their mission is “to build strong, stable, and secure military families so they can thrive - not simply struggle to get by - in the communities they have worked so hard to protect.” Typically, Operation Homefront sponsors and supports military families through donations to local military installations. Kurt Schroder, the American Legion commander in Fayetteville, said “Since we don’t actually have a military installation in the vicinity of Fayetteville, Operation Homefront allowed us to take the donations from Dollar Tree and hand them out to families who needed them.”

Schroder also said, “We had members send it out to all of the schools in the county to try to advertise the event. It was kind of short notice because we only got the supplies about a week and a half ago. We are trying to put things together and make things available for the community. That is what we are about, helping people.” The Fayetteville VFW and the American Legion hope to continue this event in the future. If they can receive enough donations, they hope this event will become a biannual thing. Hopefully, in the future, this event will be hosted every year at the beginning of the school year and again around Christmas.

The American Legion and the Fayetteville VFW have several more activities in motion for the community. Currently, they are selling crosses to families who want to honor their veterans. The crosses are $125, which includes the cross, the flag, and the metal flag pole. The crosses are white with the veterans name, where they served, and USA. They have a hole in the middle of them for the flags to slide into, and they will sit about 1 foot in the ground once they are put up. Jack Buck, the Fayetteville VFW commander, said “We got the idea from the VFW in Winchester. In Winchester, they started with 16 crosses, and within a couple of months that had 120 crosses. Now, a year later, they have over 300 crosses up.” Buck also said “We are going to talk to the mayor about running them all alongside the highway, hopefully from the American Legion all the way out to Pendergrass. We just think this will be a way to honor our veterans and the help beautify the city of Fayetteville.”

The American Legion Riders also have an event lined up in the near future. The American Legion Riders are motorcycle enthusiasts that are all veterans. They will do rides for veterans and charities. Craig Lipsie said, “We will do rides for veterans and charities. Where the American Legion is the more stationary side that hold breakfasts and fundraisers, the American Legion Riders are the more mobile side that rides around.” Lipsie also said, “Riders do what we call a poker run. We will ride and have different stops set up along the route. Riders in the community pay us a donation to ride with us, and we go to different business in the community during our ride. We give them business by stopping. For example, we will stop at a gas station and all fill up on gas or buy a couple drinks, and then we ask them for a small donation for a charity we are sponsoring. “ If you would like to know more about this, you can stop in at the American Legion, or you can come see the American Legion Riders on Saturday, September 11th at the Hayden’s Hope Craft Fair. They will be performing a ride for Hayden’s Hope, another 105 (c)(3) nonprofit organization, and presenting them a check with 100% of the proceeds from their ride.

The American Legion and the Fayetteville VFW also offer a few scholarships for students. The VFW offers the Voice of Democracy scholarship for grades 9-12 and the Patriot’s Pen scholarship for grades 6-8. Applicants can win at a local, district, state, and national level. The Voice of Democracy is a $30,000 scholarship that is paid directly to your school. The Patriot’s Pen is a $5,000 scholarship. The American Legion also has the Oratoracle, which is a $25,000 scholarship. Theses scholarships are cumulative, so if they win one, they can still win another. For more information about these scholarships, please contact the American Legion on 2700 Wilson Parkway.

They also sell poppies on the corner every year to raise money. They send students to Boys State and Girls State every year. Buck said, “We are trying to raise enough money that this winter around Thanksgiving and Christmas, we can give out a couple hundred boxes of food to veterans in need. I’ve been told that there are about 8,000 veterans in Lincoln County, and we only touch a small part of them, because they either don’t come out, don’t know about us, or they just don’t want to come out.” They are also starting a new program called “Battle Buddies” where they try to connect with veterans that are home bound or are unable to come out. “Battle Buddies” will allow the American Legion and the VFW to connect those veterans with other veterans who will check on them and see if they need anything.

Stop in to the American Legion and see what they’ve got going on! They are open every Friday and Saturday at five. They will have a band every Saturday for the next two and a half months. The events are not closed, they are open to everyone, not just veterans and members of the American Legion.