Community is key as members of Colton VFW welcome, support neighborhood

COLTON, Calif. (KABC) -- Like a lot of VFW's, Post 6476 in Colton has been around for decades.

While it's obviously there for veterans on an ongoing basis, on Friday, the facility was made available for the entire community.

"This is the first open house we've had, because the new commander is really getting involved with our activities at the VFW," said veteran Bernie Moyeda.

While the idea of an open house might not seem like anything new, Post Commander Dez Hernandez said getting more involved in the community is one of his top priorities.

"We want to have more community relationships, so we figure this would be a good opportunity," he said.

For breakfast, they had menudo, a traditional Mexican soup, and then held a barbeque later in the afternoon.

Of course, there was a lot of camaraderie.

Veteran and Colton native Paul Abodaca said Post 6476 has always helped the people of Colton. Now, they're hoping to do even more.

"Scholarships, donations to football teams, baseball teams, local high schools, we're very community oriented," said Abodaca.

Of course, the VFW motto is, "No one does more for veterans."

"We all got to stick together," said veteran Jerry Hernandez. "We stuck together when we were in the war, and we still stick together."

Now, there's more togetherness with the community than anyone can remember.

"Because we as Vietnam veterans never got a parade coming home, so it's really nice when people come up and say, 'Thank you for your service,'" said Moyeda. "To me, that's a great honor."