The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 2995, located in the Overlake area at 4330 148th Ave. NE, will hold a fundraising dinner and auction for its Troop Support Program tonight.

A lasagna dinner, with salad and rolls, will be served from 5-7 p.m. by youth volunteers from Inglemoor and Skyline high schools. The dinner costs $10; children 10 and under are free. An auction and live entertainment will follow the dinner.

To date, VFW Post 2995 has sent more than 6,300 five-pound “care” packages to America’s frontline troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to John Kenny, chairman of the post’s Troop Support Program.

“Presently, we are providing comfort items for two Army and two Marine Units,” Kenny explained, adding that the units “are on the short end of the supply line.”

One of our Marine units was recently relocated to an isolated area, Kenny said.

“They only had the packs on their back,” Kenny said. The key items in the packs were water and ammunition. They were delighted when two helicopters made a mail drop to them.”

The drop contained 50 boxes from the VFW.

“Needless to say, they were very happy and they let us know,” Kenny said.

Kenny added that the key to the post’s recent success is that it has been given permission to do collections at the Fred Meyer and QFC stores. At the Fred Meyer stores in Bellevue, Redmond and Kirkland this past year, the VFW post collected over $115,000 worth of comfort items.

Volunteers will be outside the Bellevue Fred Meyer store in Bellevue during the middle of the November. Kenny noted that QFC is also supportive of the effort, but more volunteers are needed to man those collection tables.

If you’d like to help, contact Kenny at kjjkenny@aol.com or 425-883-2295.

Mary Stevens Decker can be contacted at mdecker@redmond-reporter.com.