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Members disband AmVets post

The organization has had difficulty in attracting new and younger people, especially Vietnam veterans, to the chapter.

By BETH N. GRAY
Published October 12, 2005

SPRING HILL - An aging and inactive membership has led to the demise of another Hernando civic organization.

After a vote Thursday, AmVets Post 28 is this week dissolving its charter, Cmdr. Joel Smoyer said.

Members numbered as many as 50 or 60 veterans and their families at the organization's peak, Smoyer said Tuesday.

"Now you can't get 10 people to a meeting," he said. "If you have a dinner, you get the same 10 people."

While the post was chartered with the national organization in March 1999, it had been meeting long before that. Some have life memberships of 25 years' standing, Smoyer said.

But the organization has struggled to stay viable during its short history.

"We've done everything we can," Smoyer said. Recently, faithful members have been donating $10 to $20 a month just to pay the rent on the meeting room in the Spring Hill Shopping Center.

From the beginning, members donated tables and chairs for the meeting room. Organization funds were never spent on furnishings or frivolities.

But month to month hanging on has worn the aging members down.

"Grandparents have been running it," said the 67-year-old commander, noting active members range in age from 50 to near 70. "We've been trying to entice younger ones to take over. We're not getting (any) response."

AmVets is open to anyone who has served honorably in any branch of the military at any time.

Smoyer lamented that veterans of the Vietnam era have not embraced AmVets.

"They felt they were not honored when they came home," he said, "and they want to go their own way. I think they want to have their own organization."

Smoyer served six years as a Naval airman between the Korean and Vietnam wars. He said he searched long for a veterans organization for which he qualified since he had not served overseas. AmVets met his interests and needs.

Over the years, the Spring Hill post has sponsored blood drives, helped the homeless, presented programs and supported cadet programs in the schools, awarded Americanism honors and participated in Veterans Day events.

The post had been planning to expand the name to become the Janet Parker AmVets Post 28 in honor of its longtime financial officer, bookkeeper and secretary who died earlier this year. She was the daughter of the unit's oldest member, George Parker, 94.

Of 16 members who voted on dissolution, only one dissented, Smoyer said.

AmVets members' affiliation with the national organization will continue to be recognized. Members also may transfer to other units, with the nearest Post 18 on County Line Road in Pasco County.

Aging and inactivity have been blamed for the dissolution of two other civic gatherings in Hernando County this year. The Spring Hill Lions Club disbanded and twice-weekly bingo at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 10209 were discontinued.

Beth Gray may be contacted at graybethn@earthlink.net

[Last modified October 12, 2005, 00:19:18]