Alford-Clarke VFW Post 852 announces with ‘heavy heart’ that it will shut down next month

photo by: Bremen Keasey/Journal-World

The Alford-Clark VFW Post is pictured at 1801 Massachusetts St. on Monday, Jan. 27, 2025.

Story updated at 7:55 p.m., Monday, January 27, 2025.

A longtime VFW post in Lawrence will soon be closing, with the local operations manager citing low participation and a lack of donations after the COVID-19 closures as the cause.

Alford-Clarke Post 852 in Lawrence will be shutting its doors after Feb. 9, the group said on Facebook “with a heavy heart.” The post said “this has not been an easy decision, and it reflects the challenges faced by our Post over recent years.”

The organization is a local branch of a national nonprofit that aims to help military veterans in need and promote patriotism. The VFW provided assistance for veterans in Douglas County through creating a relief fund that could provide financial help for expenses like groceries or utility payments and having a safe place for veterans, many of whom suffer PTSD, Deon Johnson, the operations manager for the local chapter of the organization said. The organization also planted American flags in Memorial Park on Memorial Day and worked on other community service projects.

But a decrease in participation and donations means the organization does not have the funds to continue its outreach in the same way, Johnson said.

Johnson had been volunteering with the VFW for 18 years, and she said the post was “at its height” before the pandemic forced the location to close for 88 days. After a period of brief re-openings and closures and limited hours, once the post was able to fully open again, donations and participation “stopped,” Johnson said.

Despite hosting bands on Friday nights, very few new faces stopped by. People weren’t even coming to fundraisers held by the group, Johnson said, except for a handful of regulars.

“We had the same 15-20 people that were continuously coming, but you can’t survive off just that,” Johnson said.

Although the canteen that offered drinks and meals for the organization was self-sustaining, the lack of participation cut into the funds for the other charitable projects, and the location on 1801 Massachusetts Street became unaffordable because of the lack of participation, Johnson said.

While the group hopes to keep its charter and hopes to have meetings again at a different location, it finds itself in a bit of a Catch-22. Now that the VFW won’t have a place to host fundraisers and other events, it is more difficult to fundraise and sustain its charitable work, Johnson said.

“Unless people start donating again, there will no longer be any funds to provide help for veterans,” Johnson said.

Johnson is not a veteran herself, but she was emotional in describing the loss of an institution which has been in Lawrence since at least 1965, when it was located at 138 Alabama St. At the moment, she said the group has no plans to open another location for its Post. Johnson said she is willing to do “whatever it takes” to help maintain the group, but that Monday was a difficult day.

“It’s just hard,” Johnson said. “These people are amazing. I’m not a veteran but they have been there for me and my family. It’s sad (considering) all I’ve seen them do.”

The Post will be open during normal business hours (4 to 8 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, 4 to 11 p.m. Fridays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sundays) until Feb. 9 and be open that Sunday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. for a final gathering “to honor the commitment of those who have been part of the Post.”