Your Mission Continues

"The Frisco VFW has reconnected me to a group of patriots like those I served with in the Army. We do meaningful work for each other as well as all veterans and their families. There is a broad range of help needed by local veterans and it amazes me how quickly Post 8273 responds."

"When my wife passed friends and comrades at the Frisco VFW were there for me and are still with me today."

“This organization has helped my family through our roughest time, they have literally given us shelter and furnished our new home completely. I’m so thankful that due to the donations they receive, they are able to bless so many families. Thank you to Commander Shenna, Dr. Preston and all the volunteers and members who blessed my family. You all are truly angels.”

"The Frisco VFW has helped me not only connect with other women veterans in my area but also connect with my community to help veterans in need"

"The Frisco VFW provided camaraderie that I missed after transitioning from the Army. I found a new family of like-minded friends to fill the gap of what I lost when getting out. The VFW made my transition smoother and easier."

“You can’t find a better organization in the Frisco area than the VFW Post 8273. This veteran-based organization is amazing! The outreach and volunteer work they do for our local community is amazing! The members make you feel like family and that is the best of all!”

"Post 8273 has given me the camaraderie I was missing since my transition from the military, it also allows me to continue serving my community and our local veterans in so many ways that I was unaware of. Being able to socialize with my veteran brothers and sisters has introduced me to new friends and created bonds that I'm extremely grateful for."

"The Frisco VFW is so much more than the sum of its members. The Frisco VFW is the compounded sum of what each comrade brings to the table: selflessness, compassion, camaraderie, love, and hope. When you walk through the doors for the first time, you know you are home! All who have served know how difficult it is to ask for help, but the Frisco VFW stands ready and first in line to help a comrade in need. And once a comrade is back on his or her feet, that comrade stands ready to help the next in need. This post truly changed my life. I will never find the words or deeds to give back what this post has given to me.”

"I was a Soldier. Now, I'm a Veteran. More importantly, I'm a woman veteran. One of the first things that stuck out to me about the Frisco VFW was their pride on being diverse, vibrant, family-orientated and active in their community. I was welcomed, never judged. I was loved, and never ignored. Most importantly, I was appreciated for my service. I found my friends, my brothers and sisters, my unique group of people that I enjoy serving with after life in the military."

“My name is Daniel Smith. I am an Army veteran that had completed two combat tours in Iraq in 2003 and 2005. I suffer from PTSD, depression, and anxiety. I have lived in Frisco since 2007 and always kind of kept to myself. Fighting my battles alone was getting harder and harder. I could never explain my difficulties to my family. I had no one to really talk to that could understand why I felt and acted the way I do. One evening I was sitting in my living room, and I got a message from a lady named Shenna Lawless, just prying information from me. She tried endlessly to learn more about me. Eventually I gave in to her recommendations and I had joined the Frisco VFW in Spring of 2019. I was skeptical at first and was not very involved. I went to very few meetings and associated very little with the organization. This didn’t stop the organization from helping me and giving me an opportunity that would forever change my life. A few months after joining I was encouraged to apply for a service dog. I knew that the lists were long with hundreds even thousands waiting for their dog. I applied, and to my surprise I received a phone call one afternoon while at work. I was busy at the time, and let it ring through to my voicemail. Cody from United States Veterans Service Dogs had found a match for me, and in three short weeks from that call Oakley and I met. We have been best buds since. I am more comfortable now and beginning to be normal like I was before deployment. I owe everything to the Frisco VFW for making this happen. This VFW Post has helped me more than years of therapy, medications, and alcoholism.”

“As a veteran, there are certain perfunctory things that we do off of instinct. We register with the VA, we seek out other veteran brothers and sisters, and if you’re lucky enough to qualify, we join the VFW. I found myself “going through that routine” when I found my way to Post 8273. I joined, I supported where I could; however, like most things in life during 2020 I took a lot of the things I was involved in for granted. That all changed on the morning of June 23rd, 2020. For some reason I was restless that morning and remember looking at the clock; 6:38 AM, I never wake up that early! At 7:23 AM our family home in Frisco, TX suffered a direct lightning strike to the attic, not 10 feet from where my twin 15-year-old daughters sleep. Initially it sounded like an IED going off in the back of the house! BOOM! I thought, “Man that was close”, but when the smoke detectors went off my train of thought shifted from “that was close” to “we were hit”. I ran upstairs, got my daughters out, and opened the attic door to see the entire attic engulfed in flames. My wife, 5 children, mother-in-law and dog all got out safely to the neighbor’s house, all in our PJs and mostly shoeless; however, everything was a total loss.

This is where the VFW kicks in. Remember that “perfunctory” membership I mentioned earlier? Well now it’s an absolute way of life for me! I received a call from a friend of the post, Jim Schnyder, who advised he would contact the VFW and Post Commander Shenna Lawless. Before I knew it, a GoFundMe was set up, and things were off to the races. Frisco VFW Post donated $1,000 to help my family in our darkest hour, and literally challenged donors to give what they could, and they did. Initially our goal was $7,500, of which we’d reached about 50% when the VFW set the bar. When it was said and done, we received over $16,000 in donations. The Auxiliary came to our hotel with snacks and bottles of water! Don Fink, Post Chaplain, checked in on us almost every day! They brought furniture donated by members, the bed on which I sleep was donated by the VFW. My family and I have never felt such an outpouring of love and protection. In our time of need VFW Post 8273 and the Auxiliary made us feel like a part of a strong family, and for that I am eternally grateful! Perfunctory? Not anymore! Whatever the Post needs, the Post gets from this veteran. What they did for us was beyond the call of duty and shall never be forgotten. Post 8273, you’ve exemplified the notion that “No One Does More For Veterans” and for that you have our eternal thanks and our hearts!”

“The Frisco VFW is more than just a non-profit striving to help veterans and their families. The Frisco VFW has treated me like family and helped me overcome many obstacles since moving to Texas a few years ago. Not only did the Post deliver food to our family last thanksgiving when our household was unemployed, they took it a step further and helped me completely revamp my resume. In addition to my new resume, two VFW members took me out for coffee to get a deeper understanding about what I am looking for in a career and then proceeded to help me get enrolled in a highly respectable internship program put on by a local college.

Their efforts ultimately led securing employment and I'm overwhelmingly grateful for it. Make no mistake, the Frisco VFW is not just another non-profit, they took me in with open arms and have become family. I see great acts of kindness from our post daily that match my experience and far greater. The leadership in this post has truly made this an honor and a privilege to serve alongside them helping veterans the way they blindly helped me."