Letter: Darien VFW Post 6933 Request To The Community

DARIEN, CT — The Darien VFW Post 6933 needs your support. The Post is located at 205 Noroton Avenue. Our Post provides a vital service to local combat veterans by providing them with a central location to meet and remember their military experiences with comrades who care. The Post depends on the generous community donations as well as the personal charitable donations from individuals.

The VFW Post has been a part of the Darien landscape since 1864. The Chapel of Fitch’s Home for Soldiers and Their Orphans (the “Chapel”) is a one-and-one-half-story, wood frame building constructed in the late-nineteenth century as part of a larger campus established in 1864 to assist veterans and their families following the Civil War. The original facility occupied one city block on the east side of Noroton Avenue, between Elm Place and West Avenue. The Chapel was relocated across the street to its current site in the early 1950s after the rest of the campus was demolished. The Chapel is now located on a rectangular, 0.39-acre sloped lot on the west side of Noroton Avenue in the Noroton Heights neighborhood of the Town of Darien, Connecticut. It is now the home of VFW Post 6933. The building was listed in the State Register of Historic Places on March 11, 2015.

Several factors have contributed to the current critical financial situation for the Post. The physical building needs some major repairs and updating. The second-floor outdoor stairway needs to be replaced, and the Post kitchen needs to be redone and brought up to code. A recent issue has been the installation and cost of a new oil tank and the removal of the old and damaged buried oil tank. Although the Post veteran membership has handled the monthly expenses, the costly repair and replacement expenses have placed a daunting financial burden on the Post.

The Veteran membership has always looked to the Darien and Fairfield County communities for support and has received the most generous participation and financial donations. Today, The Darien VFW Post 6933 membership is asking for your continuing support to assist with the Post repairs and replacements. We will be conducting several Post fundraisers in the coming year. Donations can be made on the VFW Post 6933 web site.

A heartfelt Thank You to all who donate. It means so much to the Post 6933 Combat Veteran membership who served their Country. “Lest we forget.”

Please contact John Visi, Post 6933 Quartermaster, for questions or donations at 203 644 3963.