2023-2024 Pa Dept. Membership Program: Click Here
Why Join?
VFW members share the camaraderie you enjoyed in the military. We’ve all been deployed to foreign war zones and/or where UN troops maintained global peace including Egypt, Kosovo, and Bosnia. We’ve put our lives on the line defending freedom. Our families know the hardships of deployments. We understand what you want in a veterans service organization: camaraderie, strong support, and effective advocacy. We’re committed to serving our state and nation through the VFW’s mission—"Honor the Dead by Serving the Living”—out of respect for those who went before us into harm’s way.
Our strength comes from you—veterans of wars ranging back to World War II and Korea, through the Vietnam War and Operations Desert Storm/Shield, and through Operations Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, and New Dawn, plus many smaller military operations in between. Your membership enables the VFW to do good things for great people particularly veterans, their families, our troops, and their communities. Our ability to improve lives grows with each new membership and when current members renew.
To recognize the significant impact that women are having in our military, we created the "She Serves” campaign to encourage female veterans to offer their ideas and their energy to the VFW (see the link below for details).
Here are more reasons why membership will pay off big for you:
What have we done lately for you?
Service Officer Flyer
VFW’s Federal Legislative Victories for Veterans
VFW’s Washington DC Office – Fighting for Your Rights
VFW National Legislative Priority Issues
Interested in joining? First, check your eligibility. Veterans who served on covert missions not shown on discharge papers should contact State HQ to document their eligibility.
VFW Membership Recruiting Resources
VFW Members Recruiting to VFW Auxiliary click here: 2022-2023-Membership-for-VFW-Recruiters
To purchase membership recruiting displays including pull-up banners, tablecloths, canopy tents, and more visit the VFW Store – www.vfwstore.org. These materials provide Posts of any size with colorful, professional, and informative promotional items that help recruit new members.
National Recruiting Material Brochure (what’s available) Order Form: (how to order from National HQ) – The brochure showcases both free and low-cost supplies that are available. Carefully complete the order form to ensure that you correctly calculate any applicable costs and provide the required payment information. Fax or mail the form to National HQ. State HQ only keeps a small supply of some free items; products that incur a cost must be ordered through National HQ. Orders for recruiting materials should be placed at least 3 weeks before your event date. If you have less time before your event call the number on the order form and ask about rush delivery.
Proven Recruiting Tips from "All-American Posts”
All posts are encouraged to create relationships with local military units and to support the troops at drills, Freedom Salutes, welcome home events and troop deployment ceremonies. VFW MAP grants are available to help posts of all sizes to serve food, beverages (water, soda, Gatorade) and other items at these events (post volunteers must be involved in serving the items to show hands-on involvement; i.e., grants do not cover catered events). Posts should also consider holding special events for troops or entire military families.
Online resources – National HQs give eligible members the option of joining the VFW using their online membership process (www.vfw.org). There is also a membership app that can be used on smartphones that sends eligible members’ contact information to Post Quartermasters (Post QMs must use the online membership tool offered by National HQs through www.vfw.org to receive notification that there is an online member inquiry waiting in their account for action. In addition, there is a fillable membership form that can be emailed to eligible members to be completed and then emailed to a Post Quartermaster along with proof of eligibility.
Materials available from National HQ can assist you in recruiting such as the brochure and order form for materials to assist and the Recruiter Training Guide.