Congratulations to VFW Post 1316

Dear Comrades and Auxiliary Members,

Thank you for your trust in electing me as your first female Commander. As Veterans of Foreign Wars members, we have all accepted the noble call: To Honor the Dead by Helping the Living. As your Commander this year, I will make it my business to share with you, as best I can, whatever information comes our way from District, Dept. & National in a timely manner. Our organization has always offered to assist with many worthwhile programs.

I also want to congratulate the other officers elected alongside me; together we will strive to be an excellent team that leads with devotion and efficiency.

I look forward to working with our auxiliary to collaborate on various activities. As a Post, we cannot be successful without our symbiotic relationship with our Auxiliary.

As you know, we have many important VFW programs in which we must participate in each year such as – Patriots Pen, Teacher of the Year, Scout of the Year, Buddy Poppy Drive. I am confident that with your support we will successfully accomplish these programs as well as any other program that might occur during the year.

One of the goals I would like to set is improving our membership and volunteerism.

Another goal is to be more active in our local community, let’s get to know our neighbors, and help in any way we can. Our community outreach needs to include various businesses and neighborhoods. With your help, we can accomplish these goals.

I have a long-term goal of improving the infrastructure of our facility; let us work together to upgrade, modify and modernize it. Together we can accomplish this.

I would like to thank all the volunteers who support our Post and make it a success. Our canteen staff and our members step up and help out anytime we have an event.

Lastly, I would like to personally thank Calvin Anderson, Kenneth Williams, Tosha Flournoy, L.C. Parks, Edward W. Clark, Earl Marshall, Arnold Williams, and Dishoungh White, and others for helping me to work towards moving Post 1316 in a positive direction. 

Our official VFW Post-1316 meeting will be on every second Monday of the month at 6:30 pm, House Committee board meeting will start at 5 pm.

I look forward to working with you all and encourage you to contact me with any concerns, comments, or suggestions you may have. My personal email is

drema1002@gmail.com. You can also contact me thru our Post email address at vfw1316@gmail.com.

Let us all pledge to remain a vibrant, visible-to-the-public, patriotic organization! Again, thank you all for what you do.

Debra R. Mattocks

VFW Post 1316 Commander