Motorcycle club revs up fortunes of Glassboro VFW post

MCs in the News
By Jessica Driscoll
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GLASSBORO Thanks to the help of a local motorcycle club and renewed community interest, the borough's Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 679 is back in business Ð booking rentals and completing necessary renovations.

"Once we got into the public eye, we started getting some rentals and personal donations sent to the post," said VFW Quartermaster Charles Gallagher. "We host a lot of events at the post for no charge for groups like the rotary, South Jersey Vietnam Veterans and the Roughnecks, and the Roughnecks Ð a little motorcycle club made up of state and local employees Ð decided they wanted to help. They put together a successful fundraiser and between that, the rentals and help from the public, we're certainly in the black again."

The Roughnecks' fundraiser, called the Frostyballs Poker Run, was scheduled as a motorcycle ride around the county on Feb. 27 to raise money for the hall, with riders picking up a playing card at five different locations to make up a poker hand. Because of the snow and poor road conditions, the event was moved indoors and still managed to raise $5,000.

"These guys were absolutely great," said Gallagher. "They did everything and if we even tried to help, they told us to relax and said they were taking care of it. They're a great bunch of guys who rallied and raised all this money for us."

Gallagher said that with the money and rentals the hall has brought in, the bills are paid and renovations have continued. The building has already undergone three years of extensive renovations to its hall, meeting room and canteen.

"In order to bring in more people, we're trying to make the place more desirable," said Gallagher. "We probably have two-thirds of the renovations done of the building and when we're done there we'll move outside. The parking lot is as old as the building."

According to Darren Leonard, one of the Roughnecks who organized the poker run, there was no question in their decision to help.

"Why wouldn't you help out the veterans?" said Leonard. "As a Navy vet myself, veterans' issues are very close to my heart and it seemed like a worthy cause. In this day and age, you need to do all you can to support the vets who served for us. In addition, they let our motorcycle club meet there once a month so we're supporting our own."

The borough's post honors those who served from World War I through Operation Iraqi Freedom and is a meeting place for the South Jersey Vietnam Veterans, the Military Order of the Purple Heart, Disabled American Veterans, the Gloucester County chapter of the Roughnecks motorcycle club and other community groups. The post also offers a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder group where veterans from Vietnam, Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan can come talk through their problems. The VFW spends any revenue on paying building expenses and initiating community service projects.

Leonard said any donations or rental requests should be directed to Gallagher at (609) 280-9100.

"It was a great event and they're really deserving," said Leonard.

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