Joliet’s Cantigny VFW post continues to find new ways to serve veterans

The Veterans of Foreign Wars Cantigny Post 367 in Joliet has been serving veterans since the end of World War I.

The post remains strong today not only thanks to the volunteers who support the post but also local businesses and unions that contribute to its future.

Post Cmdr. Lou Smith points to the roof on the building, the heating system that keeps it warm in the winter, and even the chairs that provide seating at weddings and other events with gratitude to the local unions and businesses that donate time and money to Cantigny. The chairs were bought with a $14,000 grant from Joliet Township.

Veterans and the post auxiliary, which comprises nonveterans, provide the day-to-day help that keeps Cantigny going.

Smith first became commander 12 years ago at a time that Cantigny was in debt and its future worrisome.

“We don’t have that anymore,” Smith said. “We’ve got money in the bank.”

The post opened in 1920 on the same site where it exists now at 826 Horseshoe Drive.

The location, near the busy Six Corners intersection but tucked into an area surrounded by houses, puts the post out of view from mainstream traffic.

“Sometimes I think we’re the best-kept secret in the VFW,” said Jim Clausen, quartermaster for the post. “A lot of people don’t know we’re here because you can’t see us from Plainfield Road and Black Road.”

Exposure to the public is important because much of Cantigny’s revenue comes through rentals of its banquet facility, a familiar spot to longtime Joliet residents but not everyone. Cantigny also holds fish fries, has bingo nights and stages band performances.

Making use of the hall is important because of membership decline, which has occurred at many VFW and American Legion posts with the passing of the World War II generation.

“Membership is still an issue,” Smith said. “It’s hard to get the youngsters to join.”

For Smith, a Vietnam War veteran, youngsters are those from the generations that followed.

That includes Dennis Havranek, who served in the Navy from 1983 to 1987.

He joined Cantigny only a couple of years ago and now is the post’s senior vice president.

Havranek said he was like many veterans, wrapped up in family matters and work challenges and not thinking of joining a service organization. But now that he has, he sees what the VFW has to offer in addition to companionship with other veterans.

“There’s information about benefits that a lot of veterans just don’t know is out there,” Havranek said.

Watching out for veterans and their needs is one of the missions of the VFW.

At Cantigny Post 367, it’s been a mission for more than a century.