Bigfork VFW commander builds outreach to veterans

The Bigfork Veterans of Foreign Wars sits in a modest building along Montana 35.

There’s room for a few tables, and about a dozen stools at the bar. Cooks flip burgers on a grill outside.

But on the wall of the facility are architectural drawings of a new facility that would sit farther up the hill from the current building.

Getting from here to there is the goal of Bigfork VFW commander Michelle Ohrn.

Ohrn is a Navy reservist and is the first female commander of the Bigfork VFW post. Although the Bigfork VFW post has 129 members — the highest it’s ever been — Ohrn wants to see that number double. And she thinks that’s possible, given the fact that many veterans are returning home from tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, where she served one 10-month tour.

The VFW is not just a social outlet and a place to get a great hamburger. Ohrn says the  Bigfork VFW offers assistance to veterans who are navigating the maze of federal bureaucracy called the Veterans Administration.

“Our goal is to help veterans,” she said.

The Bigfork VFW also helps in the local community. It offers awards in several areas of civic leadership, from high school essays on freedom, to teacher and firefighter of the year. The Bigfork VFW this year organized the Rumble in the Bay car show in Bigfork.

One woman called the Bigfork VFW recently when her hay trailer broke down on the highway. Ohrn was able to rally some local troops and retrieve the trailer for the woman, whose husband had had a stroke. “That’s what we’re here for,” she said. VFW offers financial assistance for travel for healthcare, which for many local veterans is at the VA hospital in Spokane.

Most of the Bigfork VFW members are Vietnam war veterans. Ohrn said many new veterans returning from the Middle East don’t realize the benefits the local VFW can offer when those veterans begin needed VA assistance. “We’re trying to get more of the younger people in,” she said. “They think it’s a bunch of old people sitting around telling stories, but the VFW is invaluable in helping veterans.”

 For people having trouble getting their benefits from the VA, “When the VFW steps in, people start getting their benefits,” she said.

Ohrn said it’s important for the local VFW posts to reach out to the younger veterans. “Some of the health related things didn’t show up until much later from Vietnam, so when we have all these kids coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan, what’s going happen to them in 10 or 20 years?” she said. “We have to be looking at their future, their kids’ future. And that’s why we need to get them in here.”

A new facility in Bigfork would have more room for meetings, social functions and a restaurant. Ohrn said the local post is raising money to pursue the dream of a new facility.

Ohrn, 46, has been a Navy reservist for 11 years. She and her husband moved to the Bigfork area several years ago to retire.

Not all benefits to veterans come from the federal level.

As a veteran, she found the local VFW to be a welcome place to discuss issues from the Afghanistan war she could not discuss with those closest to her — even her family. “Just having somebody to talk to is important,” she said. “It’s good to realize there are other people w

The Bigfork VFW Ladies Auxiliary is asking for donations to help local veterans in October.

Donate household items like soap, canned food or hygiene products at the Bigfork VFW on Montana 35 in Bigfork.