Service Salute – Afghan refugee project is flagship VFW post feat

Today Magazine Online
41 minutes ago
6 min read

• Local VFW Post Serves Community via Afghan Project and Much More

Special to Today Magazine Online

• The Avon-based VFW Post has offered an exclusive Q&A to Today Magazine — this is the second feature in a two-part series

Based in the heart of Connecticut's Farmington Valley, VFW Post 3272 is celebrating its 80th birthday — this milestone anniversary offers an opportunity to reflect on the post's achievements since its inception in 1945, the year World War 2 concluded.

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VFW stands for Veterans of Foreign Wars, and this post's full name is Gildo T. Consolini VFW Post 3272. A native of Avon, Consolini was killed in WW2 combat in 1943. Post 3272 meets weekly at Prince Thomas of Savoy, an Italian club on Old Farms Road in Avon.

A post highlight in recent years has been the Afghan refugee resettlement project — this flagship feat came to fruition in 2024.

Yet the veterans of Post 3272 benefit the community in a plethora of other ways, including the Memorial Day Parade, the Avon Veterans Memorial, patriotic activities at public schools, and the Voice of Democracy and Patriot's Pen student essay contests. The VFW further serves the community by honoring local teachers, visiting hospitalized and ill veterans, serving as honor guards at veteran funerals, and decorating veteran graves.

Another post highlight, in collaboration with the Avon Historical Society, has been the military service history project featuring over 100 written veteran histories of post members.

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• Here's the exclusive and wide-ranging VFW interview — provided to Today Publishing by former post commander Tim Healy:

Veterans of Foreign Wars

Gildo T. Consolini VFW Post 3272

P.O. Box 297 • Avon • Connecticut

Website — www.avonctvfw.com • Facebook page

Year Established — 1945

Mission — Service to veterans of foreign wars and the communities local to Avon in which they live

Slogan — No One Does More for Veterans

Most fulfilling aspect of your work?

The post keeps alive the memory of veterans’ service, promotes patriotism and supports veterans’ interests.

Your biggest obstacle, and how you overcome it?

Our biggest obstacle is recruiting new members. We address this by personally inviting veterans we encounter in the community, providing service opportunities, visiting local schools, and conducting celebrations on Memorial Day and Veterans Day.

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Most satisfying accomplishment?

Our most satisfying accomplishment of recent years was to help resettle an Afghan refugee family whose members had assisted U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan. Our goal was to fulfill in some measure the moral obligation our country has to those who helped us in that conflict, and to attract younger members to the VFW by offering them a means to write a happy ending to their part in a story that otherwise had an unfortunate conclusion. The family is happily and safely here in Connecticut and working hard to become independent, productive citizens.

Goals for the next 1-5 years?

We wish to grow the post and serve the community in new and exciting ways. We already provide several scholarships for local high school students and look forward to engaging them in appropriate ways to help recruit new members, provide veteran-oriented services in the community, and encourage enlistment in the armed forces.

Volunteer opportunities:

Volunteer opportunities generally emerge on a project-by-project basis. We maintain the names on the Avon Veterans Memorial and keep veterans’ histories at the Avon Public Library up-to-date, and we are building a veterans memorial at the cemetery of Saint Ann Church in Avon.

Anecdote that illustrates how you accomplish your mission:

With the kind permission and encouragement of its management, members of the post gather at BeanZ, a coffee café in Avon, on Thursdays from about 8:30 to 11 a.m. Veterans and friends are welcome to join us. From time to time, political aspirants will join us to explain their platforms, and people who wish to offer us opportunities or do good things for veterans appear as well.

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In one instance, a librarian from Wallingford approached us and offered her literary expertise to the group. A couple of the men took her up on it and went on to write their memoirs. The post has a historian, and veterans’ stories are gathered and posted in the Avon Public Library.

How closely do you work with other agencies/nonprofits?

We work closely with the local American Legion chapter. They are invited to our formal veterans celebrations, including the Memorial Day Parade and school visits on Veterans Day. Some of our VFW members are members of both organizations, and the relationship is very friendly.

• Editor’s Note — VFW membership is for veterans who served in an overseas conflict, while American Legion membership is for all veterans

Interesting stats and numbers:

The post has about 90 members — the oldest post member was Morton Katz, who died at 105 years old in February 2025.

Besides donations, how is your work funded?

Costs for the annual Memorial Day parade are shared by the town of Avon.

Post officers:

• Commander — Jerry Stinson

• Senior Vice Commander — Peter Savino

• Junior Vice Commander — Chris Bulko

• These officers are serving a three-year term from 2024 to 2026 — post officers are elected by members

What do you appreciate most about the Farmington Valley?

The Farmington Valley is a friendly, generous community that welcomes its veterans and cares about their welfare. People routinely pay for the post’s weekly coffee gatherings at BeanZ in Avon. The Veterans Oasis at Tunxis Community College provides a place for veterans to meet and share their experiences.

In our Afghan resettlement project, the community responded with funds and over 50 volunteers to make the effort a success. Tim Healy, the past post commander, says the assembled team was the best he’d ever had the privilege of leading. We are all enormously appreciative of the community in which we live.

• Today Publishing covers news of interest statewide, with a focus on the Valley towns: Avon • Canton • Farmington • Granby • Simsbury

What do you appreciate most about the state of Connecticut?

The state of Connecticut has a very veteran-friendly attitude. An example of this comity is the recent legislation exempting totally and permanently disabled veterans from property taxes.

What constructive change would you like to see in the Valley and the state?

A Connecticut military history museum would be interesting.

Further comment:

The post invites all veterans who have served in foreign wars to join us for coffee at BeanZ in Avon on Thursdays from 8:30-11 a.m. to see what we’re all about. You’ll find easy comradeship, good food and ready acceptance.

Afghan and Iraqi vets can take heart at our outreach to refugees and their families who served alongside them in those conflicts. You can write the happy ending to your part of the story that, writ large, did not have a happy ending at all. We would love to have veterans share their military history — if you wish to do so — and perhaps even write your memoir, as a few of us already have!

If you did not serve in a war, we encourage you to contact Charlie Zaorski at the American Legion in Avon. As veterans, we work closely and cheerfully together for the community, and enjoy each other’s company. +

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• This article is the second feature in a two-part series — here is the first:

Military Milestone – VFW post celebrates 80th birthday

Featuring community news that matters nationwide, Today Magazine Online aims to record Connecticut’s underreported upside — covering the heart of the Farmington Valley and beyond