Calhoun VFW rebirth includes building, image
The post invites the community to help celebrate its 75th anniversary April 10.
Unused for the better part of five years, Calhoun’s VFW building on West Line Street wasn’t in the greatest shape when a handful of folks started the latest attempt at a reopening.
“The charter was suspended in 2016 and it’s been reinstated numerous times,” Post Commander Pro Tem John Brown said. “The problem is there hasn’t been a lot of community support, and that’s because of the way it was shut down. I wasn’t here, but I’ve been told it just left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth.”
Since the original charter suspension, the several attempts at reopening the veterans club just haven’t been able to gain enough traction to keep the doors open. When the latest crew arrived, the roof leaked, there were some mold issues and a few unwelcomed critters had made their home in inside the building since being left unused during the pandemic.
“The last group had a good flow going, but then COVID hit,” Brown said.
The most recent attempt at getting Calhoun’s VFW back on track seems to be gaining steam. The post has a soft reopening planned for next month and the
community is invited to check out their progress while also having a little family fun.
As part of the post’s upcoming 75th anniversary, the VFW will be hosting a community day, Saturday, April 10, from noon to 4 p.m. at 406 W. Line St.
The event will include a cornhole tournament, petting zoo, pallet board painting, water balloon toss, a cookie decorating station and more. Food and drink will also be available. The post building will be open as well for tours so members of the community can see the progress on the post’s building.
Officially known as the Renis Barrett Post 5376, the club was posthumously named after 24-year-old
Pvt. Renis W. Barrett, a Calhoun native killed in the Philippines in July of 1945. According to Brown, the land for the VFW post as well as the adjacent National Guard Armory were donated by the Barrett family.
It’s more than just a physical renewal the pro tem team is working towards, however. It’ll be about better connecting different generations of veterans to one another, making the club’s racial diversity match the community around it, and focusing much more on outreach to local veterans in need.
“The goal is to really change the image of the VFW and veterans clubs in general, so it can start
making money to stay open and get started with our community outreach,” Brown said. “Right now it’s all volunteer work and a lot of our own money.”
Along with their own time and money, much needed help has been coming in from local businesses donating work, resources and funds. If you drive by the VFW these days, you’ll see plenty of love being given to those businesses in the form of signs and banners scattered around the property.
To survive in the long term, the post also will need new members to join and take interest. Brown says he’s rounded up about 30 new members for the
post’s rebirth and he’s still hoping for more from all generations.
“There’s a divide there, so we need to bridge that gap,” he said. “We also need to respect everything past members have put into the organization while bringing it into the future. We have two Vietnam Vets who are still in leadership here, but they’re ready to turn it over. They’ve been a big help.”
A major focus going forward will be helping local veterans with VA medical and educational benefit claims, as well as counseling and other needs.
“We have a large homeless population and a lot of them are veterans,” Post Quartermaster Pro Tem Randy Boatner said. “We want to do outreach for them.”
That plan includes a dedicated office and eventually a full time person with training in that area.
To get things rolling financially, Brown said it will take a team effort, which will mean getting the VFW’s Auxiliary group back in action, a task that will likely be taken on by local veteran and business owner Travis Queen.
”We really want to grow
that and use those resources to start some of our outreach,” Brown said.
Auxiliary groups are open a more broad base than VFW post membership, including certain family members of veterans.
Out front of the post is a war memorial, which has also been getting some much needed attention.
”The base just accumulated water for years and it turned the mortar into sand,” Brown said. “We’re working
on taking all the tiles up and we’ll see what it looks like and we’ll go from there.”
The last war memorialized on the monument is Vietnam, so the group also hopes to eventually get it up to date in that aspect.
Continued community access to the post’s baseball field is also a focus for Calhoun’s VFW, but there’s work to be done in that area as well, including moving incorrectly placed foul lines, dugout reconstruction, new fencing
and general field conditions. Future plans also include outdoor seating and eating areas, as well as a concourse pavilion in the outfield area for games and gatherings.
Donations to the VFW’s efforts to reopen can be made out to Renis Barrett VFW Post 5376 Inc. and mailed to 406 W. Line St., Calhoun, GA 30701, or through Venmo @VFWcalhoun. Cash donations can also be dropped off at the event on April 10.