Jack Durish says every dollar raised supports veterans and families across Walker and Madison counties
HUNTSVILLE, Texas. The Huntsville VFW post is putting its biggest fundraiser of the season in front of local shoppers, businesses, and veterans families, and Jack Durish wants the purpose stated plainly before anyone buys a ticket.
“All the donations we receive go to helping veterans in the community and their families in need,” Durish said. The former post commander remains active with VFW Post 5871, a service group that meets at the HEARTS Veterans Museum and covers Walker and Madison counties.
A service post built on low overhead
Durish pushes back on the old picture of a veterans post as a smoky bar with a clubhouse to feed. Post 5871 has no bar and no smoking at its meeting home. The post takes no salaries, and its fixed costs stay low because it uses the museum facility. The money it raises is meant to move back out into the community, where a veteran or a family hits a hard month and needs help.
That low overhead shapes the pitch. Fundraising is not about keeping a building alive. It is about keeping a local safety net ready. The Madisonville post’s closure during the pandemic became a warning in Durish’s telling, a reminder that a veterans group built around a clubhouse can vanish when the room goes quiet. Post 5871 has tried to build the opposite model, with volunteers, folding chairs, pop-up canopies, and a checkbook guarded by a bonded quartermaster.
The raffle at the center of the season
This year’s major raffle leans into Texas appetite. The first prize is a quarter of a Wagyu steer with a freezer to hold it. The second prize is a Ruger .308 bolt-action rifle with a scope, donated by Trigger Therapy in Huntsville. The third prize is a large smoker. The drawing is set for Veterans Day.
Tickets are $10 each, three for $25, six for $50, or twelve for $100. The post also offers a subscriber path for supporters who want a ticket each month across the year. Buyers must be Texas residents and at least 18 years old. Because charitable raffle rules bar out-of-state sales, Durish personally refunds online purchases that come from outside Texas and sends a note explaining why.
The bigger need may be sidewalks. In-person tables still matter, and Durish is asking local businesses to let the post set up where people already gather. “What we need, we need more people, more businesses to say, ‘Hey, we would allow you guys to come set up,’” he said. “That’s where we need you.”
Sponsors give the post a second lane
The raffle is one lane. Sponsorships are another. Local sponsors give anywhere from $250 a year to $1,000 a year or more, and the post returns promotional support, website recognition, and a veteran friendly decal for a storefront. The aim is a circle that stays local. A business helps veterans, the post helps residents notice that business, and the money remains tied to Walker and Madison county families.
The same website carries the post’s essay competitions and teacher recognition programs, including a national teacher honor that can bring money to both the teacher and the school. Durish’s larger point is that the raffle is not separate from that work. It funds the presence behind it, the volunteers who can show up when a veteran needs a hand and who can keep contests, ceremonies, and service projects moving through the year.
For a community that asks a lot of its veterans long after the uniform comes off, the fundraiser is refreshingly direct. Buy a ticket if you can. Offer a storefront if you have one. Either way, the post is asking Huntsville to help it keep helping.
The post has run this play before. Last year’s raffle offered a hindquarter of beef and a freezer to store it, with the freezer donated by Home Depot and the beef donated by Dr. Pruski. This year’s prize list follows the same local donor pattern, mixing a food prize that fills a family freezer, a hunting rifle from a Huntsville shop, and a smoker that turns the whole package into a backyard season. The prizes get attention. The service is the reason for the season.
The storefront ask comes with a promise about manners. The volunteers set up, say hello, explain the raffle, and let people decide. They are not there to block a doorway or chase a customer across a parking lot. That low pressure style matters for businesses weighing whether a Saturday table helps or hurts the front of the store. Durish’s case is that a veterans group can raise money in public without wearing out its welcome.
The money sits inside a broader service calendar. Post 5871 also uses its website to promote student essay competitions and teacher recognition, areas where Durish says local entries have been thin. The national teacher honor can bring $5,000 to the teacher and another $5,000 to the school. Those programs need nominations, entries, and adults who will nudge a student or a principal before a deadline. The raffle helps keep the post visible enough to recruit that kind of participation too.
About VFW Post 5871
VFW Post 5871 serves veterans and their families in Walker and Madison counties and meets at the HEARTS Veterans Museum in Huntsville. Raffle tickets, sponsorships, essay contests, and donation information are posted at vfw5871.org.