Building for the future

BY GARY BAND
SPARTA — On the ground where it has stood since 1947, Sparta VFW Post #7248 is making some major improvements to this important property. With an eye toward better serving its 77 members and the community to which it is open, those concerned with keeping the post in its current place have been working hard to make that happen.

With activity at a low point over the past year, a group of members — including now Post Commander Pete Litchfield, Deputy Commander John Finkeldie, and Vince Householder — got together to talk about what could be done. And following an August fundraiser at the Mohawk House attended by some 600 people that raised more than $35,000, new life was infused into the post.

With a strong foundation and an eight-year-old roof in place, plans including the installation of new windows, HVAC, and flooring, walls, ceilings and bathrooms, were set in motion soon thereafter. The post are also redoing its electrical system and switching from oil to natural gas.

Like the dedicated post and community members who made the fundraiser and improvement plans happen, the new windows are now all in. The rest of the work on the hall is scheduled to take place during January and February. The hall will be closed during this time but the bar will be open. The work is being done by Three Brothers Home Improvement in West Milford, along with help from members. Further plans are being considered to upgrade the exterior of the post.

“We've gotten a lot of support from the community,” said John Finkeldie, a Marine veteran and VFW life members since 1996, who grew up with Mohawk House owner Steve Scro. “It was a great event and Steve has been very generous with his help and advice.”

Finkeldie said he and others felt like the hall was an “underutilized community asset,” and improvements to it would make it more attractive. As for members helping the professionals, he said they’ll mostly be “rippin stuff apart. We’re all good at that. Only a few of us can really help put it back together.”

Above all, the post wants to let the community know that it’s open to the public. One need not be a member to drink or eat there, or rent the hall for an event. The volunteer-run bar has limited hours of operation, but it is operating. Check out www.facebook.com/spartavfw for updates.

All are welcome to come in and watch Monday Night Football and order some chicken wings, or stop in for a drink on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, especially now during football season. The hall, which can hold 135 people, is used for voting, and rented for parties and meetings by a variety of individuals and organizations. And from Memorial Day to Labor Day, the post has a BBQ dinner every Friday.

“We’re here to serve the community,” said Pete Litchfield. “The bar is just the icing on the cake.” He wants to make the hall accessible all day; and, in addition to parties and meetings, to be used for workout classes. There are also plans to get a pool and ping-pong tables.

Along with the improvement plans and work, and welcoming members of the public, the post is actively recruiting new members who served in foreign wars. It is also creating an auxiliary of men and women who weren’t in the service but want to help keep the post in the community. Pete’s wife Terry Litchfield will be the chairperson. Membership dues are $28 a year and $500 for a life membership.

“It’s important to get younger veterans,” said Vince Householder, who served in Army Special Forces in Afghanistan from 2008-13. ”There’s a stigma that places like this are just a bunch of old guys. I wouldn’t have imagined I’d be part of it myself. But I hooked up with a good group of guys here.”

Finkeldie is one of them. “Everybody has their own experience of going to war. Some are more difficult than others, but everyone has respect for each other here.”

Litchfield, whose father gave him a VFW life membership when he returned from service in Vietnam, said the post is run on passion.

“We’re here to help returning veterans in any way we can,” he said. “Whether for job networking, home loans or health benefits, there’s someone here who can help. We’re open and everyone in the community is welcome here.”

As for Mayor Jerry Murphy’s comments regarding the condition of the building — tearing it down and replacing it with a parking garage that he made for a story that appeared in the online publication Tap Into Sparta in October — the post has seen fit to print, frame and hang his quote on a wall in the bar — for at least a year.

“We love Jerry and we always forgive, but you have to take your medicine,” said Finkeldie.

Regarding his tenure and leadership, Litchfield says, “It’s an honor. I appreciate all that the people who came before me have done," he said. "I’m a leader but we do everything here as a team. I’ll give it my all for four years, then hand it over to someone else and their vision for the future."

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