Schaumburg VFW post loses headquarters

Schaumburg’s Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2202 will likely spend all of 2012 meeting at Schaumburg Regional Airport as its members begin the search for new permanent headquarters.

Due to a $1,400 per month lease it could no longer afford, on New Year’s Eve the post moved out of its headquarters in a strip mall at 525 Wise Road in Schaumburg.

But despite the lack of expense in meeting at the airport, Post Cmdr. Tom Alderson said he wants the post to find another permanent site within two years.

One of the biggest drawbacks of the current arrangement is the post’s collection of memorabilia, which was displayed at the old headquarters, is going to spend the new year in storage, he said.

The post had spent a number of years meeting at the Schaumburg Barn — as do a number of other nonprofit groups — but sought out the strip mall space to have a home of its own.

“We were there for 18 months, but our last permanent home was 10 years ago,” said Alderson, a 28-year veteran of the military who retired in 2009.

The post currently has 111 members whose active service years range from World War II to Iraq and Afghanistan, though the majority are in the older age range.

Alderson sees the current situation as a minor bump in the road, which will allow time for the post’s membership to build up funding for new headquarters.

He foresees gatherings at the airport twice a month — one formal meeting and then a second informal one for fellowship alone. One positive aspect of the new location is that it allows for meals at Pilot Pete’s restaurant on the airport’s upper level, either before or after the more formal meetings downstairs.

It’s one of the reasons the airport was chosen over a couple of other options, said Senior Post Cmdr. Gordon Stanley, a veteran of the Korean War.