VFW Memorial Post 5519 in Pine Plains has been awarded a $15,000 grant through Dutchess County’s 2025 Veterans Microgrant Program, County Executive Sue Serino announced on Thursday, July 24.
The funding will support improvements to the post’s interior meeting room, including the purchase of new equipment, furniture, and electronics. The grant will also help fund a summer 2025 gravestone restoration project at Evergreen Cemetery, where volunteers will clean and preserve veterans’ gravestones.
Brian Coons, commander of Post 5519, said the funds will go a long way toward creating a more inviting and functional space for meetings and presentations.
“The indoor space needs a little tuning up — just a little bit of paint, a little bit of floorwork, some furniture that matches,” Coons said. “Right now, there’s a plethora of living room chairs that people wanted to get rid of and they ended up in our space.”
The VFW shares its meeting location with the American Legion at the Shacameco Post 426 building on N. Main St., which is owned by the Legion. Coons said the grant will allow the VFW to improve its portion of the facility.
“We’re getting a meeting table, a desk, a computer with flat screen for PowerPoint presentations, and some other things,” he said. “We want to do some presentations and make it more inviting.”
Post 5519 currently has 21 members and is hoping to grow to 25 by the end of the year. Under national bylaws, the VFW must complete community service projects each quarter. Coons said the post is active in local cemeteries and along roadways.
“We’ve done street cleaning, trash cleanup, coached Little League teams — things of that sort,” Coons said. “We don’t make a lot — if we’re lucky, we make about $2,000 a year.”
He credited the Town of Pine Plains for helping keep the post operational and expressed appreciation to KRC Planning of Poughkeepsie for helping the VFW apply for the county grant.
“KRC Planning has done a lot of grant work. They wrote the grant for us, and we’re happy to receive it,” he said. “They’re very supportive of a lot of veterans’ interests.”
The Pine Plains VFW is one of 15 recipients of the one-time microgrants, which range from $5,000 to $15,000 and are aimed at bolstering community- and municipal-led efforts to serve local veterans. In total, $200,000 was awarded to organizations across the county.
“Dutchess County is proud to offer these microgrants to organizations and communities dedicated to uplifting our nation’s veterans,” Serino said in a statement.
The county’s Veterans Affairs Director Adam Roche said the grants “expand accessibility, provide vital connections with other veterans and provide community recognition that means the world to them.”More information on veterans services in Dutchess County is available at dutchessny.gov/veterans.