VFWs in need of younger members to get involved

Community Events VFWs in need of younger members to get involved By Vivian Rose … Comments Posted on November 10, 2026 L. to R.: An Oyster Bay High School graduate receives a flag as part of Operation Democracy. Provided by Mitch Furman Mitch Furman, senior vice commander at Syosset’s Gus Scutari Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6394, said that as he gets older, he’s noticed there are fewer “younger” members part of the organization. Furman said he joined nearly 12 years ago, just about three years before he retired after a career in retail. He said he worked his way up into retail management and eventually came to work as a district manager, regional manager and director of store operations, “that kind of thing,” he said. “I was in the VFW for a few years at that point, but my kids had grown and left the house and started making their own way in life, and that’s pretty typical even today,” Furman said. “A lot of young guys don’t get involved too much, and that is one of the struggles the VFW and every organization like that has today.” Furman spent about 20 months overseas, arriving in Vietnam in 1968 before being injured and getting transferred to Japan for surgery and rehabilitation. After his time in Japan, Furman said he was transferred to Korea, where he became an armorer. Furman said he spent about 20 months overseas but said he didn’t have the time as a younger man to join the VFW. He said that many other young veterans are having similar struggles now. “The camaraderie is invaluable,” Furman said. “You can be as active or inactive as you like. We have some younger members now that attend four meetings a year and that’s okay. They show up for the parade, they show up for a funeral, they come to a few meetings, and that’s perfectly fine.” He said that as members get older, they are able to participate more and take on more responsibility. According to previously published reports, VFW organizations have lost nearly a million members over the past 30 years, but peaked in the early 1990s at about 2 million members. In a 2019 report from the VFW’s national organization, almost 25,000 new members joined after a near 27-year decline in membership. Each year, Furman said the VFW has the opportunity to visit schools for various events including Flag Day, Veterans Day and Memorial Day, as well as attend street fairs like Oyster Fest each year to tell their stories, make people aware of the organization and raise money. Oyster Fest serves as the Syosset VFW’s largest fundraiser, Furman said. Fundraisers like these help the organization support its scholarship fund, honor first responders and teachers in the community and pay rent for its hall. “That’s our single largest fundraiser of the year,” Furman said. “So what we get from that and other things is our primary source of funding. Depending on how much money we get, we can do more or less each year.” Visit vfw6394.org/di/vfw/v2/default.asp to learn more about Syosset’s Gus Scutari VFW Post 6394. For more scene & seen event photos, click here. About the Author All comments are subject to our Community Guidelines . Schneps Media does not endorse the views shared by readers in our comment sections.