I'm a 26 year veteran. As a matter of transparency, this incident occurred about 3-1/2 years ago. I was part of another service group that was attempting to provide free dental services to needy vets..... vets who were living at or below the poverty line. We had arranged separately the necessary support money through grants and donations as well as a partnering with a local dental clinic which would provide their services for a relatively small cost to our group. The clinic had a mobile dental clinic which could be parked almost anywhere, including the post's parking lot, to bring the services to the vets.
I visited Post 347 and personally met with their services leader. I stressed to him we wanted no money from them. Our group simply needed the post to advertise our services and identify those disadvantaged members who could benefit from our services. I was told he would present our proposal to the post's leadership council the following week. As I was headed home, I received a text message stating our proposal was denied. The denial came in less than 20 minutes.
I was so disappointed and disillusioned that I vowed never to step foot in that post again. We ultimately partnered with a VFW post.
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