After 40 years, VFW Post 9008 to move

MILLBROOK —  With Memorial Day over, the parade and the veterans who were in it are a memory. Looking forward to Veterans Day in November, they’ll be back. In the meantime, we see their VFW Post 9008, just off Franklin Avenue, and we know they are near.

But things are changing. The Thorne Building is morphing into a community center and Bennett Park is slowly becoming a reality. Recently, when the commander of Post 9008, Jeff Moseman, was told that the post would have to find another home, it was a surprise, and not a pleasant one.

The VFW has occupied that same stone edifice for 40 years, putting time, effort and money into it. The VFW leased it from the village; when the village turned the Thorne Building over to the 501(c)(3) Millbrook Community Partnership, the building occupied by the veterans was included.

The veterans took it over in 1982, a stone building formerly used by Millbrook High School to train for blacksmithing. Over the years, the VFW made it a two-floored building, sectioned off rooms, and added a kitchen and, later, a deck. It has been the veterans’ meeting hall and their place to get together, to welcome old and new members, and conduct business.

While the veterans have been given ample time to move and have been told they can meet in one of the rooms in the community center, many of them feel that now is the time to look for another home. The group has equipment that must be stored; in particular, their weapons must be secured in a safe place.

A larger space would allow them to be more active in both community and veterans’ affairs. Moseman said they have started looking at other properties in the area, but they hope to stay in Millbrook.

One property they looked at would include a house that would allow five apartments that they would use for low-cost veterans’ housing, and that site could also include an information center. But property is expensive and money would need to be raised.

The vets are good at raising funds, and can be found at the Millbrook Farmers and Makers Market all summer; the raffle tickets they sell allow them to give generously to three different local food banks. They also give out scholarships to local students. At the Memorial Day parade this year, they resurrected the red poppy tradition and made $314 selling those.

They have long been raising funds to help others. Now, they may have to raise funds to help themselves. Moseman said they are working with a grant writer, and will see what money is available to them through federal, state and county government grants.

Because Millbrook has a population of fewer than 5,000, they are eligible to apply for the USDA Rural Federal Grant, and Rep. Pat Ryan, D-19, will support that.  But federal money will only cover about three quarters of the overall cost. The rest must be raised, and they will be setting up a GoFundMe site.

Sitting on the deck of Post 9008 after the Memorial Day parade and the clean-up, longtime members Moseman, Paul Galli and Dave Ruger were recalling stories about the post over the years for new member Zach Hastie, a Marine veteran of Iraq who joined the post last fall. They described the building before the renovations, and some of the events.

Their community involvement is deep; they led the Parade of Lights in 2022, they gave out candy on Halloween and this year, for the first time, they sponsored a Little League team. A new and larger home will allow them to do even more.

Moseman and the others are hopeful that they will find a place to go, that it will be in Millbrook, and that they will be able to go on doing what they’ve always done: being a part of the Millbrook community.