Elgin VFW Selling Its Building, Will Try To Rebound Elsewhere
(CBS) -- It's the end of an era for a nearly 90-year-old VFW Post in Elgin.
Financial troubles have forced the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1307 to sell the building it has been in since the 1980s at 1601 Weld Road. The post itself dates back to around 1929, officials say.
"We've had to shut down the kitchen, BINGO, lot of other things because people just aren't participating," Post Cmdr. Art Buckheister says.
He says revenues have dropped more than 50 percent over the past seven years.
Quartermaster Scott Webb says he's heart-broken.
"We've been in this building for a very long time, and there's a lot of deep emotions and a lot of good things have gone on in this building for many, many years," he says.
Webb and Buckheister say the post will continue to exist, just in a different form and in a different place that hasn't yet been determined.
Of the dwindling membership of 266, fewer than 50 are active members, Buckheister says.
Now, as Webb puts it, quoting an old saying in the military: "It's time to adapt, improvise and overcome."
