The Sammy Martin VFW Post 7800 hopes to fulfill its mission, but they need help, according to Roy Jones, who holds numerous positions in the post.
“Our motto is, ‘No one does more for veterans,’ Jones said.
However, finding veterans is a challenge.
“As I understand it, there are more than 1,400 veterans in Patrick County. We want to know who they are. Where are they? What are their needs,” he said, and added the VFW can help in a number of ways.
For instance, he said the post can help with benefits like housing, financial, employment, education, disabled veteran real estate tax exemption and others.
There also are resources available to help with life insurance, mortgage and help with PTSD, Jones said.
“This is what we’re here for,” he said of serving the needs of veterans. “We’re not doing it because we don’t know.”
Currently, there are two VFW posts, Jones said of the Sammy Martin Post and another in Meadows of Dan.
There are 62 members on the Martin Post roster. Generally, Jones said six to 11 members attend meetings.
While new members are welcome, veterans do not have to join the post to get help, Jones said.
“We need younger, active members that are willing to serve” others in different post programs, including visiting veterans who are in long term care, Jones said, and added he recently completed his training to work as a hospice volunteer.
Jones said that although he represents the Sammy Martin post, the American Legion also needs members.
The American Legion is open to veterans, regardless of where they served, Jones said. “You could have spent the whole time in your home town,” he said.
The VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) accepts veterans who served on foreign soil in a combat zone, and not dishonorably discharged, Jones said.
“I would like to have our meeting hall packed and raucous as everything” with members, Jones said, and added the post also does fundraisers like the Poppy Drive and maintaining a booth at the Patrick County Agricultural Fair.
The post also offers networking opportunities, Jones said, and explained he moved to Patrick County in 2003. “Till I joined the VFW” about three years ago, “I didn’t know anybody.”
That changed one rainy day while he was visiting Martinsville.
Donned with a cap signifying his involvement in the Vietnam conflict, Jones said he met a member of a VFW post there who kept him from his dry vehicle until Jones promised to attend a VFW meeting.
“I didn’t even know what the VFW was or what’s available,” Jones said, but he kept his word. Now, “I’m so glad I did go to the meeting,” Jones said, and chuckled, “I’m so, so glad it was raining that day.”
Jones said Martin convinced him to join.
Jones’ work with the post is rewarding, both because he has made new friends and also because it allows him to concentrate on helping others.
There are scheduling conflicts at times, Jones said. “If someone joins, there is no obligation” to attend meetings or work events.
Meetings are held the 4th Tuesday of each month. The meal is at 6 p.m., and the estimated hour-long business meeting begins at 7 p.m., Jones said.
But his story is less about recruiting new members and more on finding those in need.
“’No one does more for veterans.’ That is our goal. Those are our marching orders, but we have to know what those needs are and where our veterans are” to fulfill the mission, Jones said.
“We want veterans to know what’s available; that they’re needed and that they’re not forgotten,” Jones said. “We want to be helping them, if we can only find out what they need.”
For more information, call Jones at (276) 930- 4571.
