If your father served overseas — you belong here.
If your mother served in a combat zone — you belong here.
If your grandfather came home from Vietnam, if your sister deployed to Iraq, if your husband earned a campaign medal — you belong here.
The VFW Auxiliary isn't just for spouses. It's for the daughters and sons who grew up watching a parent put on the uniform. It's for the grandkids of WWII veterans. It's for the brothers and sisters of the deployed. It's for the widows and widowers who keep their loved one's mission alive.
If a veteran in your family served overseas, you're eligible — and we need you.
For more than 100 years, the VFW Auxiliary has stood beside the Veterans of Foreign Wars — serving veterans, active-duty military, and their families, and spreading patriotism across America.
Our members have:
Volunteered millions of hours in hospitals, communities, and homes
Donated millions of dollars to veterans' programs, scholarships, and emergency assistance
Honored hundreds of thousands of veterans through ceremonies, care packages, and simple acts of love
Auxiliary 969 carries that mission forward right here in Tacoma.
Membership is open to anyone age 16 or older who is related to a veteran eligible for the VFW. Your veteran doesn't have to be a VFW member — just eligible. You can join under a living or deceased veteran.
Eligible relatives include:
👫 Spouses — husband or wife of an eligible veteran
🕊️ Widows & Widowers — including those who have remarried
👨👩 Parents — father or mother
👧👦 Sons & Daughters
👴👵 Grandparents — grandfather or grandmother
🧒 Grandchildren — grandson or granddaughter
👨👩👧 Siblings — brother or sister
Step, adopted, and half-relatives count the same as biological — you're family, and family qualifies.
Any veteran (living or deceased) who received an honorable or general (under honorable conditions) discharge AND meets one of the following:
Earned an authorized overseas campaign medal
Received Hostile Fire Pay or Imminent Danger Pay
Served in Korea for 30 consecutive or 60 non-consecutive days (after June 30, 1949)
One veteran can qualify up to 12 different family members. Look around your family — cousins, in-laws-of-the-heart, blended family — you'll be surprised who's eligible.
We're not a social club — we're a force. Here's how we serve:
Support VFW Post 969 — the veterans of Tacoma count on us for events, meals, ceremonies, and hands-on help
Care for veterans and their families — hospital visits, cards, meals, memorial support, and check-ins for those who need us most
Community service — from our annual July 4th America 250 Block Party at the VFW Post 969 Rec Park in Orting to year-round scholarship programs and youth outreach
Honor the fallen — Wreaths Across America, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and every ceremony in between
Chaplain ministry — spiritual care, grief support, and presence in the hardest moments a military family faces
Advocacy — carrying the voice of veterans and their families to Olympia and Washington, D.C.
"I was raised by a Vietnam veteran. Joining the Auxiliary was the only way I could say thank you loud enough for him to hear it."
Some join because they're honoring a parent. Some join because they want to stand beside their spouse. Some join because their kids are watching. All of us join because we know that behind every uniform is a family who served alongside them.
You don't need experience. You don't need a lot of time. You just need a heart that says these are my people.
Three easy ways:
Join Local Auxiliary 969 — Meet with us, become part of our Tacoma family, hold office, volunteer, and serve alongside neighbors (annual dues vary — contact us)
Department Member at Large — Join at the state level if you can't attend local meetings (dues vary by Department)
National Member at Large — Join online through National Headquarters (annual dues $50)
You'll need:
Completed application
Proof of your veteran's eligibility (typically a DD-214)
Membership dues
Contact Us:
📍 VFW Post 969 · 3510 McKinley Ave, Tacoma, WA 98404
✉️ adj@vfw969.org
Or Join Online:
🌐 vfwauxiliary.org/join-usvfwauxiliary
Every family who serves this country carries something the rest of America doesn't fully see. The Auxiliary is where we set it down for a moment — together — and pick each other up. Whatever you carry, you don't have to carry it alone.
Come stand with us.
Our programs support our service members while they are on the front line, as they are being discharged and long after they return. Your tax-deductible donation will be immediately directed to the VFW programs where your support is most urgently needed.
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