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North Attleboro VFW counting on dinner to save them

The Sun Chronicle - 7/6/2017

NORTH ATTLEBORO - Members of the local VFW are hoping that a spaghetti dinner will, for the time being, cure their financial woes.

If not, the VFW Post 443 in North Attleboro is in danger of shutting down for good.

Members of the post will hold a spaghetti dinner at the Jefferson Street veterans hall Sunday, with all proceeds expected to offset the building's operating costs. Manager Patty Whitis said the hall is continuously behind about $1,000 on payments each month and struggles to close that gap.

The VFW is funded solely on events and donations.

Member Wayne Williams, a U.S. Army veteran, helped organize Sunday's spaghetti dinner after hearing about the financial problems.

"This is the first time it's happened," Williams said. "There's not enough coming in and we're on the verge of closing. If it's successful, perhaps we'll try again in two weeks."

Williams, 77, said over the last 10 years he's seen numbers at the VFW dwindle as more and more World War II and Korean War veterans die or move south after retirement. Meetings have narrowed to only five or six active members, and volunteers for the VFW's events have fallen to the wayside.

Somewhere along the way funds started shrinking as well.

Now that the community resource is in danger of shutting down, Williams hopes to rejuvenate the public and get more people involved in preserving the piece of North Attleboro's past.

"North Attleboro has a lot to be proud of," he said. "One of them is the VFW building. Ten years ago it was dilapidated and really rundown. We've come a long way since then."

The hall acts as a community space for birthdays, weddings, anniversaries and more - and Williams said the public is always welcome to make use of the hall's poker tables, dart boards and billiard sets.

But Quarter Master Paul Pouliot said the VFW hall is a home for veterans.

"I'm retired military, so it means more to me than just a visitor," he said. "It's a place where veterans can come in and relax. We're trying to keep it going."

Fundraisers over the past 10 years for fix-ups around the hall put forth a new flagpole and monument out front that mark a memorial entryway to the building. And, members and families of veterans have donated wartime photographs to preserve the memory of North Attleboro veterans inside the hall.

The members want to preserve that for the future.

"Everything that I've been involved in I did it for the VFW for the future," Williams said. "So the guys that come out today, it'll still be there for them."

A community spaghetti dinner might ensure that.

The dinner will be held from 2 to 5 p.m., Sunday at 50 Jefferson St. Dinner includes salad, homemade spaghetti and meatballs, chocolate cake and Cronin's ice cream with coffee donated by Mike's Coffee. Tickets are $9 and can be purchased at G.I. Joe's Army & Navy Store at 847 E. Washington St. in North Attleboro or at the door.