The Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1210 opened its doors recently for a celebration, welcoming some of its newest members with pizza, conversation, and a casual atmosphere designed to put everyone at ease. Commander Mark Gelhar said the evening was more than just food and introductions, it was about making sure new faces felt right at home.
"Tonight, at the VFW, we’re having a little open house for some of our newest members,” Gelhar explained. "River Town Days, in that time frame, we had probably our best effort ever, picked up 18 new members, and thankfully they’re a lot of Middle East Iraq Operation Enduring Freedom. So, we got some young guys coming in, and they’re excited to be here tonight.” That excitement, he said, had been clear from the very beginning.
"They were excited when I gave them calls. They want to be active members, which helps,” Gelhar said. "Either way, we like inactive or active members. We understand not everybody has time, but those numbers combined with all the national VFWs allow our lobbyists to fight for veterans’ benefits in Washington.”
The commander stressed whether someone attends meetings regularly or simply adds their name to the rolls, membership matters. "They can go to Washington and say, here you go, we got a million and a half members, and this is what we’d like to see happen as far as veterans’ benefits. So, either way, when they join, whether they can be active right away or not, it is not a big deal to us. The numbers are just as important.”
For those who may be considering joining, Gelhar said eligibility for the VFW is straightforward, but specific.
"Being the Veterans of Foreign Wars, it’s a little harder to get membership than the Legion,” he explained. "You had to have served on foreign soil or foreign territory, on the ocean during a conflict to become a member of the VFW. That information would be on your DD214, so you can either stop in or call here or send in a copy of your DD214, and then we can check and find out if you’re eligible or not eligible.” Sometimes, he noted, even the post does not have all the answers right away.
"Submariners are a whole different story, because nobody says where submarines go,” Gelhar said with a laugh. "So okay, if you’re a Submariner, we take and we say, he was on this submarine during this timeframe. Is he eligible for the VFW? And then they get back to us and say, yes, he’s eligible. Or no, he or she is not.” When questions arise, the national organization steps in.
"They’ll call the Defense Department and ask if this person would be eligible for the VFW, and that’s all we get is a yes or no. Nobody knows where those things are, they just say yes, that sub was somewhere in a foreign conflict, and that sub qualifies during that time. That’s great. That’s all we ever know about it. So, it’s quite interesting, isn’t it?”
Beyond eligibility and membership numbers, the local post is keeping an eye on its role in the community. Gelhar said planning is already underway for a larger celebration this summer.
"We’re planning a really nice Fourth of July open house for the community,” he said. "We’re just trying to continue to donate to the community and continue to be as active as we could in the community.” That involvement has already taken shape in volunteer service, with members pitching in where they can.
"Some of the guys went down to Family Service and volunteered for a day,” Gelhar said. For him, that kind of outreach is part of keeping the VFW visible and helpful. At the same time, the open house itself marked a shift in how the post welcomes its newcomers.
"Historically in the past, it’s kind of been somebody signs up and then nobody sees or hears from them for a year,” Gelhar said. "So, the goal tonight was, let’s just bring them down for a casual setting. Casual get together, bring your kids, bring your wife. We’ll have a little pizza. Get to know each other, so your first time walking through the door doesn’t have to be an intimidating experience. You’ve been here before.”
That sense of easing people into the fold will carry into other local events as well. With Hockey Day on the horizon and plenty of activity at the Uhl property, Post 1210 is already preparing to play a role.
"We donated right away when it was announced, when the logo was unveiled,” Gelhar said. "Volunteer opportunities there will be, nothing’s written in stone yet, but we’ll have an honor guard at some point, we’ll have the rifle squad at some point, we will have a booth over there for recruiting more members. So yeah, we’re looking forward to being a big part of that. It’s going to be a really exciting event.”
While the evening was about celebrating new members, Gelhar also reflected on recent changes that reshaped the post itself. A merger with South St. Paul’s post was completed not long ago, the result of a long but worthwhile process.
"The merger’s all done. Everything went good. It was a lot of work. It took probably a year to a year and a half, because we had to, our post had to vote in favor of a consolidation. So, St. Paul’s post had to vote in favor of a consolidation. Once that was done, the district had to approve it, and then the state had to approve it, and national had to approve it,” Gelhar said. "A lot of steps to get that done, but we got some really nice guys and gals out of there, both in the post and the auxiliary, so really well, we like it.”
With the merger complete, plans underway for future events, and a strong group of new recruits in the mix, Gelhar said the post is simply focused on moving forward. "We’re just plugging forward,” he said.