Polish Club Falls Through, So Last (Last) Breakfast at VFW

When a record number of people showed up for the March 10 fundraising breakfast at VFW Post 483, it was supposed to be a final farewell to the hall, the last breakfast at that location after a century of use by local veterans.

High cost of maintenance and dwindling membership forced the veterans to sell their building. And while that was a sad turn of events, the good news was that the VFW Post was quickly identified as the perfect new home for the which was bursting at the seams at its current location on Chestnut Street.

The only thing left was to find a new home for the VFW. In the meantime, the monthly breakfasts were to continue at the Polish American Citizens Club on School Street, starting April 7.

However, plans changed this week, following word of a fire code violation at the Polish Club.

According to an email sent out April 4 by Lew Chipola of the VFW, the April breakfast instead will be held, as usual, at the 2 Quincy St. address from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Following breakfast clean up, the final farewell ceremony for the VFW Hall will still go off, as planned, at 2 p.m.

Organizers of the ceremony are now looking for some extra hands to help set up and strike the breakfast in time for the ceremony.

"As for further breakfasts, it will be announced where they will be held until we relocate to a new post home.  Please come out and support the breakfast as normal," wrote Chipola in the email.

A woman who answered the phone at the Polish Club on Thursday confirmed that the breakfast was not being held there, and that there had been a fire code issue. She said she could not elaborate. The city fire marshal's office was already closed by the time Chipola's email circulated, so we could not confirm what the issue was at the Polish Club as of this writing.

Bottom line: If you can help out, contact Chipola at lewischipola@comcast.net, or just show up. And plan to stick around for the 2 p.m. ceremony, if you can.