Vets meet for coffee and doughnuts, growing ranks

Aug. 19—Veterans tend to stick together after they leave the service, and for more than 80 years, members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and Auxiliary of Post 3707 have been helping veterans meet their needs and find fellowship.

On the first and third Wednesday of every month, veterans and their families are invited to the VFW building in Tahlequah for coffee and doughnuts, from 10 a.m. to noon.

“Sometimes we just sit and visit, and sometimes they discuss things going on in the Post,” said Earlene Rystedt, president of the Auxiliary. “It’s meant mostly for fellowship and service work. Some Wednesdays, we have quite a few people, and some Wednesdays, we have eight or nine. Very seldom do we have less than eight.”

Bill Huber and Leon Halpain are the service officers, and they’ll spend time helping veterans on Wednesdays. They said veterans who need assistance filing paperwork for disability claims or looking for some other type of support can get with them.

One constant problem for the VFW is finding new members. The Post has around 60 members, while the Auxiliary has 54. Rystedt said the nonprofit groups are hoping to attract younger veterans and their families to the ranks.

“We do have a few young ones now, but most of our guys are elderly,” she said. “My husband is 80, and he’s one of the young ones, if that tells you anything. And they’re the ones keeping this alive. We’ve got to get some young people in here while we’re still here. It’s been going since 1939, and we’d like it to keep going.”

To be eligible for membership, veterans must have served in a foreign country during wartime. For instance, Rystedt said eligible members could have served in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Iraq, or Korea. To apply, vets need a DD Form 214, which shows where military personnel served and for how long.

“We’ve got some ladies who are widows, but their husbands qualified for the VFW,” Rystedt said. “Even though they weren’t members, what they did qualified them for the VFW, so our Auxiliary members can join off of them. All they have to do is bring the DD-214 in.”

Story continues

The Auxiliary group does a variety of projects to help the community. Recently, the organization has donated to the Haven House in Muskogee. It provides a place of rest and refreshment for female family members of veterans hospitalized at the Jack C. Montgomery VA Medical Center in Muskogee.

“They come from all over the area to go to the VA hospital, and if their husband gets put in the hospital, sometimes they’re totally unprepared,” Rystedt said. “It’s a home where they can have a bedroom, it has several bathrooms in it, and we supply all the towels, soaps, and laundry detergent. There’s a washer and dryer there for them to do laundry, and we keep it stocked with food.”

The pandemic has been tough for the VFW, which had to cancel its Monday bingo nights. It didn’t take long for officers to start receiving calls asking when games would resume. After bingo finally did return, patrons were slow to come in. Things have picked up since then, though.

“Now, we’re having great crowds. We are having so many people that I’ve had to, for the last five weeks, bring in extra tables. So right now, we’re working on getting the back room ready to open it up so there can be better spacing,” Rystedt said.

Get involved

The VFW is on the corner of Choctaw Street and Park Avenue. Bingo begins at 6:30 p.m. every Monday; coffee and doughnuts are the first and third Wednesday, from 10 a.m. to noon; and regular meetings are the second Monday of each month, starting at noon. For more information, call Rystedt at 918-316-2055.