A Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) post in Leelanau County is just days away from kicking off an ambitious $1 million renovation, and the project has found a new ally in the form of a local school.

Tonight marks the annual community open house at St. Mary Catholic School in Lake Leelanau, a spaghetti dinner fundraiser that traditionally raises money for families in need. This year, though, all proceeds will go toward VFW Post 7731, the so-called “Little Finger Post,” located less than a mile down the road.

According to Serena Rexroat, the parent organizing tonight’s open house, the event often draws a wide cross section of local community members, and has raised upwards of $5,000 in some years. The volunteer-run event includes a spaghetti dinner with Caesar salad and desserts, facepainting and craft activities for young kids, and an exhibition basketball game that pits St. Mary staff members against school alumni.

“Last year, we helped a family where the father/husband had fallen off a ladder and sustained an injury, so he was out of work for almost six months,” Rexroat says. “That was a real hardship for that family, but we were able to help out a little bit. Another year, we raised money for a parent that had been diagnosed with cancer.”

This year, with no St. Mary family facing similar circumstances, Rexroat had another idea.

“It's National Catholic Schools Week, and Wednesday is actually ‘Celebrating the Nation’ day, so we wanted to honor our veterans with this year’s fundraiser,” Rexroat tells The Ticker. The idea dovetailed nicely with a three-phase renovation project at the Little Finger VFW, which the post announced last spring.

According to Linda Mikowski – whose husband, Army veteran Greg Mikowski, serves as post commander for the Little Finger VFW – the building dates back to the mid-20th century, when it was built in phases by volunteer soldiers returning from World War II. It wasn’t until 2024, though, that the need for a facelift became apparent.

“It was Memorial Day 2024, and we were having our traditional Memorial Day services, which are normally held outside,” Mikowski explains. “It was raining sideways that day and it was terrible, so we moved indoors. But we had a 100-plus-year-old D-Day veteran by the name of Dick Grout in attendance, and he had to be carried up the stairs and then carried back out again because the building wasn’t designed with accessibility in mind.”

(Editor's note: Grout died in December 2024 at the age of 104; you can read more about him here.)

With more than half a million dollars raised or pledged already, contractors will begin work on the first phase of renovations next week, focused on upgrading the bathrooms to make them Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant. More work will follow this fall, to add “a covered entry and a lift” at the back of the building.

“Right now, when you walk into the VFW, you can either walk upstairs or downstairs,” Rexroat says. “There's not a good way to get into the building, if you're on a walker or in wheelchair.”

Future phases, dependent upon further fundraising, will replace windows, upgrade electrical infrastructure and HVAC systems, and spruce up the building’s exterior.

Per Mikowski, the Little Finger VFW will have representatives on hand at tonight’s Lake Leelanau St. Mary open house to show drawings of the renovation plans, answer questions, and accept donations.

“We were very grateful when Serena contacted us about this event, because the more people in the community that know about the project, the better,” Mikowski says. “These days, you never really know how to reach people.”

Rexroat is hopeful – and confident – that tonight’s fundraiser will be able to give the VFW project a nice boost.

“People really show up for this event because it is something that's so local. There’s a feeling of, ‘This is helping people I know, or a cause that I know,’” Rexroat says of the St. Mary tradition. “For example, I have a grandfather who is a veteran who's still living and will benefit from the VFW improvements. It’s a very worthy cause and something that we want to be a part of, because it affects many in our community.”

Tonight’s open house and dinner starts at 4:30pm at St. Mary, with the basketball game beginning at 6pm.

Left photo: Dick Grout (center) with two VFW members; Right photo: renderings and drawings of the new VFW.