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VFW hosting special burger night to raise much-needed funds

The Charles E. Swisher VFW Post 1924 is hosting a Special Burger Night on Monday, Jan. 25 in hopes of raising much needed funds for the post, which has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The veterans organization has been instrumental in providing food to those in the community in need over the holidays for several years now and just this past season, delivered or provided more than 1,300 free Thanksgiving and Christmas Day meals, no questions asked.

In normal times, the VFW post pays for those meals by hosting in-person dinners throughout the week that are well attended, primarily Mondays and Fridays. But this year, due to COVID-19, they have been limited in what they could offer on those days and limited to take out orders, which have been thin.

"We just don't have the everyday following to do meals on Mondays and Fridays because we just don't have that type of following for takeout," Post Commander Chris Ingraham said in a phone call. "By doing the special event, we are letting people know, 'Hey, this is what we're doing and this is why we're doing it.' Maybe that'll bring them out one time and then depending on how successful this is, we might do another one.

"We need to raise money because we still did Christmas and Thanksgiving meals. We're still doing our programs and the services we provide. We're still doing all that. There's no money coming in, but there's a lot going out."

The Jan. 25 take out only event will take place from 4 to 8 p.m. at the VFW Post located at 1175 Old Stage Road in Fallbrook.

Members of the community can drive up, place an order, and take their orders to go.

It should be noted that the VFW burgers are quite well regarded in the community.

"We do burgers on a normal Monday night and we've got quite a following for burgers," Ingraham said. "People seem to really think that we really do have the best burgers in town. I've actually had a couple of cooks that work for restaurants in town, they've come by and said your burgers are way better than ours."

He didn't name any names.

So far, Ingraham said, momentum is growing on Facebook and he hopes it will continue leading up to the special burger night fundraiser.

"The VFW Post has not waivered during the pandemic and has continued to provide the programs and services as it always has," Ingraham said. "But due to the restrictions in place on small businesses and nonprofits, the VFW has not had the opportunity to raise the amount of funding required to maintain their programs and services.

"All of the events that we count on every year for our fundraising, like the Avocado Festival, the Fallbrook Car Show and all these other events in the community have been canceled. We make proceeds from the food, we usually get some kind of a donation for providing color guards. It might only be a hundred bucks, but that's what we do. We weren't able to have our Memorial Day festivities or our Veterans Day Parade and festivities. We usually bring in a lot of donations during those times."

The post, which has been a member of the community since 1942, and a member of the Fallbrook Chamber of Commerce since 1996 provides other types of services such as veteran funeral/burial services, financially assisting needy veterans and the active duty in the community.

Their ability to continue those services could be in jeopardy if they can't raise the funds required to cover those costs, Ingraham said.

If you would like to help the VFW beyond the special burger night, contact the post at [email protected]. or visit http://www.fallbrookvfw.org and click the donate now button.

Jeff Pack can be reached by email at [email protected].

 

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