SignalsAZ.com Prescott News Podcast - Beyond the Uniform: Supporting Veterans in Prescott Year-Round

Episode Date: March 3, 2026

Send us a text and chime in!When most people think of the VFW, they picture a dimly lit bar filled with old war stories. But that couldn’t be further from the truth at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 10227.In this episode, we sit down with Commander John Parent of VFW Post 10227 (Mingus Mountain Post) to talk about the powerful work happening right here in our community. From placing over 100 flags along Highway 69 thirteen times a year, to hosting public dinners and award-winning lunches, this post is about far more than meals — it’s about mission.#VFW #prescott #veterans #VFWpost Check out the CAST11.com Website at: https://CAST11.com Follow the CAST11 Podcast Network on Facebook at: https://Facebook.com/CAST11AZFollow Cast11 Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/cast11_podcast_network

Hey, everybody, welcome back to signalsazee.com. Today, tell me your official title, because I don't want to mess it up. So, John, what do you do? Tell me all about you. Well, my name is John Parent, and I am the commander of EFW Post 10227. I also have a secondary or additional duty, a benefits advisor. Perfect. When you have commander in your name, I definitely want to make sure we cover that, and I don't mess that up. So I'm looking at your website here, Veterans of Foreign War, Mingus Mountain Post, 10227. I know you guys do some stuff with the flags, which is an undertaking on its own, because there's how many flags do you guys put up every year? Well, we started putting up the flags in 1985, collaborated with the American Legion Post 108.

We started with 10 flags. By 1989, it's grown to 100 plus flags go up along the two-mile stretch of the highway. Wow. And we've been doing that 13 times a year since 1989. What are significant about those 13 times that you do it? Is it a special day? Is it? Yes, it is.

Veterans Day, Memorial Day. We just did flags, President's Day, Patriots Day. I can't name all the holidays. But it's not necessarily every federal holiday. But it is the ones that are significant to your, you know, to the military and things like that, I would assume. Correct. Yeah. Perfect. And then I'm going to tell you, I see the building. Everybody knows, you know, big VFW building up there. I know you guys do dinner on Friday nights. Tell me a little bit about that. Yes, we do. We have dinner every Friday

night. Dinners are open to the public. We have lunch on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. And lunches are also open to the public. Now, we do have a liquor license and we have alcohol sales. however, it's limited as to who we can sell to. We cannot typically sell liquor to the public. Okay. Liquor sales are limited to VFW members, their bona fide guests, active duty military, and members of other veteran service organizations.

Now, the liquor law does allow us to have 12 public events here where we could serve liquor to the public, And that's primarily for having people come into the building for recruiting purposes, try to, you know, gain some new members that way. So I'm glad you're saying it's open to the public because I didn't know that. I thought you, you know, dinner was for your members and you guys all met on Friday nights and you had dinner. So I could just go up there and have dinner with my family.

Absolutely. No tax and no tip required either. We do have student volunteers that help us out on Friday night dinners. And we do put a tip jar out. People can put a... Got to take care of the kids. A little bit of money in there for the kids. Yeah, the high school kids have been really good.

We get three or four of them working with us on a Friday night. And for them, they achieve their community service project or hours that they may have, you know, in high school. Perfect. And so you guys are doing dinner. You're doing lunches. Tell me a little bit. So you guys were recommended for the 100 Men Who Care event. and we talked a little bit about how you would replace maybe some of the polls and different things.

But then we started talking about all the other stuff that you guys do. And I was just kind of floored by all of the outreach that you're doing for veterans. And can you tell me a little bit about how you're helping veterans in our community? Oh, absolutely. Besides our general fund, and that's the money that maybe people donate to a, us through raffle sales, food and beverage sales. We do have a lottery machine, so we get some proceeds from that. But we have the poppy fund. We distribute the poppies a couple times a year, and the money from distributing the poppies or that we receive the donations is used. It's the

unmet needs program. That money can only be used to take care of veterans and need and or their families. So last year, 74 veterans received just over $10,000 in monetary assistance. And those are veterans that are in a program at U.S. vets. They're being case managed by nation's finest, the VA HUDVASH case managers, and at the VA Domiciliary Unit. At the VA domiciliary unit, we host a bingo game once a month. We provide $100 in cash prize money, 10 pizzas, a cake, and cooler fill of sodas. Perfect. And that is funded by the Unmet Needs Program.

So pizza, bingo, soda sounds like a party. Yeah. And then what are some of these? So you told me earlier that this is all kind of case-by-case spaces. You may have a vet that walks in and they're starting a new job and they need a pair of boots or maybe some tools or something. Yeah, absolutely. And again, those are referrals that we get from primarily U.S. vets.

Out of the 74 vets that we assisted last year, 71 of those veterans were being case-managed in a program at U.S. vets. The other three were HUDVASH recipients. They have the Housing Urban Development Section 8 Housing Voucher, but unlike a regular Section 8 housing voucher recipient, the HUDVash voucher recipients are being case managed by the VA for a period of five years. So the HUDVASC case manager contacted me last year, I think it was around August.

She had a veteran who was having a kidney removed, and he had been sleeping on a couch. He did not have a bed. So we were able to get him a bed out of a model home out of Scottsdale, a brand new. Resourceful. Yeah, a queen-sized bed with a mattress. I went to Costco and got him some towels, sheets, blankets. And no sooner we got that set up, the case manager had another. veteran who had soiled their mattress, had a medical emergency. So in the same day, we were able to get

her a new queen size mattress and a waterproof mattress cover to go on that mattress. So it's pretty neat. Yeah. You know, when you think of our veterans and you think of them, after all they've done for us and they're sleeping on a couch and they're getting, you know, they've got a hip issue or something. And it's like, thank God we have organizations like yours that are, you know, taking care of these vets. And how do you guys get funded? Where's your money coming from? Well, our general fund is, you know, the money that feeds our general fund is what we get off the food and beverage sales. I mean, that's primarily why some of the VFW and American Legion Post built canteens.

so they could try to get some revenue. You know, even if they had a building, they're going to have expenses associated with that building. So our building opened in 2013. The land was donated to us by the Fing Group, by the way. And we got the building put up. Certificate of Occumancy was on September 10th of 23. And, you know, we do our best to keep it really squared away.

We have a lot of good people that work there and help us out in the kitchen. We have received four consecutive Golden Plate Awards from the county health department. Amazing. But I would not think of anything less. I would assume you guys are tip top. But I'm glad you're saying it because I would think, you know, it makes sense. You got Golden Plate Awards. But I also think, oh, it's a bunch of boys up there.

and it's probably just a mess and it's probably, you know, smoky and dingy, but it sounds quite the opposite, huh? Yeah, we have, our primary kitchen manager is a retired Air Force chief master sergeant, and he just turned 80 years old last week. Oh. Still has a lot of fire. But the problem is, you know, out of 450 members, the average age of 75. So, you know, we're, it's, we've lost a few members last month.

We're getting members. They're, they just can't ambulate very well. And so we're struggling to try to reach out to the younger veterans, the OIF, OEF veterans. And that's, that's a challenge because a lot of them think that the VFW is, you know, for the old guys. Yeah. and or some people, you know, there was that myth going around for years that the VFW and American Legion Post were nothing more than a dim-lit, smoky-filled bar. Yeah.

We have never been a smoking post and we're more than a bar. You know, we're a canteen. You know, we don't advertise, you know, as having a bar because, you know, people that have substance use issues, for example, are not going to go to a bar. We have a dining room. We have a couple of big TVs in there. If I get some of these younger vets to come on in and tell me what they like, I'd like to get some video games. We do have a pool table.

We've tried to have some family events last December. And we do things not just for the veterans or the veteran community, but also for just the people in our community. We had a holiday decorating event last December. We provided all the decorating material to make Christmas ornaments. We provided pizzas, sodas, and snacks, and it was open to the public. Right now, which I have going on all year, is I'm collaborating with the community cupboard, the food bank, and we are having a food drive all year long. Wow. You know, because during the holidays, everybody wants to help people in need or organization.

but then as soon as the holidays are over, the people are forgotten. Well, we're doing the food drive all year long. Good for you. So I'm going to try to have some specials for those folks who bring in, say, three, four, five, six can goods. Maybe we'll give them 50 cents off a beverage. There you go. And I was thinking about, too, is, you know, some of these younger guys and, you know, they're busy. They've got jobs and families and stuff.

But I would have to imagine when you want to talk about what you've experienced being in the military and things that you've gone through. And it's something civilians are just not going to understand, right? They're going to be able to go, oh, you know, that's great, buddy. But to be able to go into a room with people who have lived that life and done those things and gone to boot camp and, you know, maybe have been in active duty, what better place than to have your friends around you and people that can, understand and talk about what they've gone through. And then the old fellas, too, the old dogs, they've seen it. And to be able to share those stories, I think, would be priceless for them. Yeah, absolutely. Now, the one thing, you know, you don't hear a lot of war stories. Yeah. You know, we have veterans from each branch of service. And now they may, you know, I was in the

Marine Corps, so, you know, they may make fun of the Marines or something like that. Usually it's just little banner between a few of us. You know, but when new people, strangers come in, I've, you know, the people at my post, if somebody walks in and it's their first time, there's going to be three or four people greeting them, welcoming them into our post. And, of course, we'll ask them, where you from, how'd you hear about us? You know, maybe what ranch of service you were in. But, you know, then the talk comes to hunting and maybe riding a motorist.

cycle or hot rod vehicles. You know, it's not always about, you know, the things we did in the military. Yeah. And that makes sense too. So, but I still think it's, you know, a little bit of brotherhood there, a little bit of, you know, we all kind of did our thing. But if I wanted to get involved, I'm not in the military, grandpa was, how does somebody like me get involved?

What is there for me to do, you know, at the VFW? Sure, absolutely. We always, I shouldn't say always, I wish always. We get people that do want to volunteer. And they have no affiliation with the military. They're not eligible to join the auxiliary. You might be eligible to join the auxiliary. Good old grandpa. Yes, based on your grandfather's service. And they may not be eligible for VFW membership. VFW membership is a little more restrictive than, say, the American Legion and some of the other service organizations, because you had to have, you know, basically deployed to a combat zone.

In my 20 years in the Marine Corps, my previous deployments up until my 19th year in the service did not qualify for VFW membership. So I didn't qualify until my 19th year. So people will contact us. They'll come on in. They'll look around. And, you know, the first thing we do is I'll try to connect them with, you know, our volunteer coordinator, who's an auxiliary member, get them a food handler's card.

No charge for that, by the way, if you're volunteering with a nonprofit. And we have people, you know, that can help us on the Friday night dinners. And if we have enough volunteers, it's not like they have to volunteer every single Friday. You know, maybe one Friday a month. Spread the workload out a little bit. But right now it's getting, we're going to have to start looking at getting people to help us in the kitchen. because, you know, the chief master sergeant, you know, he's doing two dinners a month. He does lunch on every Tuesday and Wednesday.

So I need to get somebody who we can start training, who want to work to our standards, keeping that place squared away, and can contribute a little bit, you know, maybe put a dinner together. We have a gentleman, he's the spouse of an auxiliary member. And he's been helping us now on Friday nights when we have our Italian and or spaghetti and meatball night. And he's not a post member at all. In fact, he has a pest control business. And he provides our pest control services free at charge.

And every time he's there, he's looking around checking things. So it's not like he's just there once a month. Around the house, if I can throw a cheap plug out for that, around the house. Yes, he's been providing free, test control services to us for several years now. That's awesome. So it sounds like you got a few friends in the community that are helping out. You'd also mentioned, you know, your members around that average 75 years old.

When they're talking about putting those flags up on a two-mile stretch of highway, you don't have to cart those around for two miles if there's a bunch of you helping, right? You guys take little sections. Sure, absolutely. What we do is we meet at the post. Yeah. And then there's three starting points along the 69. CVS.

Yep. Is McDonald's by the CVS? Yeah. And then Alvarez Tire. So what we do is everybody gets designated a starting point. Then we drive trucks along the sidewalk there. And you just simply reach into the truck, pull out a flag, and the holes are marked. They're color.

They're coloring, right? Yeah. So, you know, if the hole is marked blue, that's an Air Force flag. If it's red, that's a Marine Corps flag. If it's black, it's the P-O-W flag. And then, you know, then the American flags. Pretty easy. Yeah, it is.

So if they want to volunteer, they want to just donate some money or help out, how do they get a hold of you? Sure. We have a website. I think you were looking at it there earlier. VFW Post 10227.goddysites.com. That's correct. They could always email the post. VFW Post 10227 at gmail.com.

And I monitor those emails seven days a week. I'm not always at the post. So, I mean, I work a lot at home. And what if I want to just drive up there? Can I just drive up there and pop in? Sure, you could drive up there and pop in, but be advised on Mondays we do not open until 2 o'clock or 1,400. Sleeping in until 1400, huh?

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, we open at 11. Saturdays we open at noon. And we try to stay open until at least 6 p.m. Now, if there's people there, we can stay later than that. But, you know, we are all volunteers, except I do have a couple of paid employees that serve the alcohol. So it's kind of hard to keep somebody there when you're looking at. that, you know, between your workers' comp and your Social Security taxes, you know, you're like at 20 bucks an hour.

Yeah. And, you know, a bottle of beer is only $3.50. I've got to sell a lot of those just covering an hour's salary. So who's ever on duty that day, if it's four o'clock in the afternoon, it's probably time to wrap it up. What is your favorite meal that you guys serve for lunch? If I popped in there on a Tuesday afternoon. Well, that's a good point. I don't know what the favorite is. Taco Tuesday is pretty popular.

I would imagine. And you can order other things on Tuesday as well. Wednesday, we've been calling that Wings Wednesday. So we do have some pretty good wings. A lot better than you might find around town. Now, we don't have 100 different kinds of sauces. That's okay. You don't need it. You just need some hot sauce. Sure. And then on Thursday, we have a cook. who volunteers her time five days a week. She is a volunteer at the VA hospital. She's a volunteer with the American Legion. She's a volunteer with us. She doesn't want to work weekends, but she puts in five days a week, volunteer him.

I think she's earned that, huh? Sure, and on Thursdays, she has, you know, sloppy Joe, a crispy chicken sandwich, might throw together a salad, hamburgers. Basically, just about anything you want she could put together. And with four golden plate awards, you know it's clean, you know it's tip top, you know it's Oh, yeah. Yeah.

And that's, well, speaking of kitchen help, we always need dishwashers. Recently, we didn't have anybody to work on Thursday. So she would get there, you know, 10 o'clock in the morning. And, you know, she was doing both all the dishes and, of course, all the cooking. And then when she'd finished cooking and cleaning it up, now she's doing the dishes. but I do have a few members now that are coming in to help. Good. Good, good.

Well, you know how to get a hold of them. VFW Post 10227. GoDaddySights.com. Drive up the hill, have some lunch, have some wings Wednesday, because I'm going to tell you, my husband is a wing guy, and he is never happy when we go get wings. So maybe this is the spot.

So check him up for Taco Tuesdays. Good luck to you guys. I know you're presenting for 100 men who care. And thank you for doing everything that you're doing for our veterans and our community. All right. Thanks for having me. All right. We'll see you guys next time.