VFW Celebrates New Location in Light of Anniversary of Fire

It was one year ago when the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1720 burned down in Grand Rapids. The loss of the VFW building hit area veterans hard. However, the brand new VFW Post is now complete.

GRAND RAPIDS, Minn. – It was one year ago when the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1720 burned down in Grand Rapids. The loss of the VFW building hit area veterans hard. However, the brand new VFW Post is now complete.

After the fire happened, crews were able to enter the building and save important items, but much was lost when the Grand Rapids VFW was destroyed. Now a new location is being celebrated.

The original VFW Post was built in 1928 and held a lot of memories. But members now have a new place to call home and continue building unique bonds through their shared experiences.

“We may have lost that building, but we gained a brand new building basically,” said John Vaudrin, the quartermaster at the VFW. “Like I said, it’s a home for veterans. They come and feel like it, like they’re at home, and they’re talking to veterans.”

The new VFW home happened thanks to the many people who helped make it a reality after the fire.

“The biggest thing I think that spurred us on is that we had so many people from the city, business owners, community members, just a ton of people came and immediately said, you got to get this thing stood back up, whatever you need,” said Hugh Quinn, the junior vice commander at the VFW. “There were so many offers to assist.”

A special “Rise from the Ashes” celebration is being planned for later in the year to give thanks to everyone in the Itasca area community who made this new VFW post home possible.