STATE COMMUNITY SERVICE CHAIRMAN  NICK CAMERA

 

 

CELL: (732) 213-3807

ncamera1@gmail.com

Post 10804

 

 

VFW Department of South Carolina

Community Service

The State Commander’s COMMUNITY SERVICE Requirements for All State:

(Commander’s Guidebook, page 22)

POST MUST SUBMIT REPORTS BY 4/27/2027

●      5 Community Service Reports per Quarter

●       4 Americanism Reports

●      4 Youth Activities Reports

●      12 Safety Reports

 

The great deeds performed by our comrades and Auxiliary members across South Carolina helping our communities and supporting our veterans should be recognized and accounted for.  For this reason, Community Service reporting is a criterion for All-State and All-American recognition.  Each Post should have a designated Community Service representative appointed by the Post Commander to collect individual paper reports from comrades and Auxiliary members and report them electronically via our website and maintain a supply of the 2026-2027 Community Support Forms for Individual Comrades.   That form is available at this link:

 

***2026-2027 Community Service Report forms for Individual Comrades ***

                                                               

Keep a supply of these forms available at your Post. Hand them out at your Post meetings so that individuals can report their activities. Your CS chairman should collect and report them via our website report form.   He/she should also gather reports from your Post’s Auxiliary President and report Auxiliary hours, miles, and dollars spent along with the Post’s reports on the VFWSC.org website using the link below:

 

Just about everything you need to know about Community Service can be found on the VFW National website.  The links to those materials on vfw.org are provided below. All Post Commanders and all Community Service chairmen at Post level should be familiar with the content found at these links.

 

COMMUNITY SERVICE BEST PRACTICES(National)

 

*** VFW GUIDE FOR COMMUNITY SERVICE BEST PRACTICES ***

Updated 8/30/2025

 

 

 

Community and Citizenship Chairman's Manual

 

***2025 Community Service Chairperson Guide***

Updated 8/30/2025

 

 

LOCAL Dept of South Carolina Guidelines for Reporting

***Community Service Guidelines***

Updated 8/30/2025

 

 

WHY REPORTING IS IMPORTANT

At the end of each reporting year, VFW national reports the number of hours and the monetary value of all of our donated time and money to Congress.  These total numbers demonstrate the importance of the VFW to our government, the savings we provide to the government and the Veterans Administration, and why we should continue to maintain our tax-exempt status.

 

WHY REPORTS MUST BE "HONEST AND ACCURATE”

The VFW is always susceptible to an audit by the Internal Revenue Service.  Reports that are inflated or are not within report guidelines can jeopardize our tax-exempt status.

 

WHAT NOT TO DO

Do not "double report”.  Don’t report the same activity under more than one category and claim the dollars, miles, comrades and hours again and again.

Example:  your Post marches in the local parade (which would be Americanism) and invites the local Scout organization to participate (which would be Youth Activities).  You had 10 comrades march in the parade and the parade lasted three hours.  Report 30 hours, 10 members, and the mileage for each of the 10 comrades under Americanism. You can also submit another report for the Youth Activity but put ZEROES in the block for HOURS, COMRADES, MONEY, and MILEAGE .  That would be double reporting if you claimed those hours again under a different category.!

Don't include gas expenses in your reports to National! VFW National takes the mileage that you enter in your reports and computes those expenses automatically.

 

SAFETY REPORTS

Change to Safety Reporting per Lynn Rolf National Programs Director. September 24th, 2025.

The only person to receive credit for the post is that person giving the safety briefing - NOT the comrades receiving the briefing!  In order to meet the requirement of 12 Safety briefings a year, make Safety an agenda item at each meeting and make sure you report it! If the safety briefing took 3 minutes, and here’s how to report it:

 Safety

 

Cumulative Hours     ENTER .05 for a 3 minute brief  ( 3/60 = .05 HRS.)           ENTER .08  for a 5 minute brief   ( 5 / 60 = .08 HRS)

*

Miles 3 (enter miles driven by Person giving Briefing)           Members    Enter 1                  Dollars Spent/Donated  0 

*Description *   Safety briefing at our monthly meeting was about heat exhaustion and heat stroke, observing the signs, and first aid practices.

 

DEPARTMENT COMMUNITY SERVICE Clyde Lindsay Award

Department of South Carolina Most Outstanding Post Community Service Award

The Award Criteria is on PAGE 35 of the Commander’s Guidebook

 

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

National Outstanding Community Service Post

On the Department's dashboard are the report totals for each post for Community Service, Americanism, Legislative, Youth Activities, Safety, & Veterans and Military Support.   All comrades can also see the Total Hours, Members Total, and Money Total for each post.

This award is selected by the Director of National Programs based on report data that is accessed by National from our Department’s report card.

 

 

Questions? If you need any help or guidance, please contact the Department Community Service Chairman, Nick Camera, at ncamera1@gmail.com