The McHenry VFW Post 4600 post’s leadership wants to ensure its building lasts far into the future so members can enjoy and benefit from it, said Larry Cannon, vice president of its board of directors.

That’s one of the reasons the post decided that the funds raised this year through its Queen of Hearts raffle would go to updating what officially is The Normandy Room, more commonly called the bingo hall, into an event space.

Construction started in August, and the VFW board saw the project completed on Nov. 1.

“We see the value in having spaces for meetings, banquets, celebrations of life,” Cannon said. But the room on the north end of the building at 3002 W. Route 120 was looking rough, with dated flooring and dropped ceiling tiles made of fiberglass.

“When you look at the room before we started this, it was a bingo hall. There is nothing wrong with it being a bingo hall, but we want it to be more than a bingo hall,” Cannon said.

“We want that 25-year-old college graduate to come in and say, ‘This is what I have been looking for,’” to hold her wedding and reception, Cannon said. “If we don’t improve it, we are not going to improve the banquets and the weddings that we are doing now.”

Still, Queen of Hearts chairman Rich Oleszczuk said the VFW is booked a year out “to get your weekend at the height of the wedding season” and that when construction was ongoing, the post had one or two events a month in the room.

The renovation replaced the flooring with updated tile and the ceiling panels with a wood grid, wrapped wainscoting around the walls, upgraded the doors and the woodwork around them, and added new features along the walls.

This was Phase 1 of the renovations, with more planned in the future to continuing to lighten up and brighten the space, Oleszczuk said.

Right now, the VFW charges $500 to rent the hall for a wedding. That will go up.

“We want it to be reasonable and affordable,” said Kat Johnson, bar manager, who added that VFW members currently are not charged that fee.

Hosting weddings and other events also helps the the VFW continue on as a business.

“They don’t think about the cost to run a facility this size. This is to help generate income to pay those bills,” Cannon said.

By generating funds by hosting events in the hall, more of the money raised from the weekly Queen of Hearts drawing can go to other needs, said James Cain, quartermaster at Post 4600.

“Having this on the side means we can use our donations and other funding to help veterans and organizations within the county or in the McHenry and Johnsburg areas,” Cain said.

The McHenry VFW has hosted a weekly Queen of Hearts drawing since 2016. Each week, hopefuls buy tickets, guessing which of 54 envelopes is holding the queen of hearts from a deck of cards.

In 2018, the game drew attention from around the country when the pot hit more than $7 million.

The winner gets half the pot. The VFW keeps 40%, and 10% is set aside to funding the next game.

Of that 40%, not everything goes back to the VFW. Instead, it gives grants to organizations such as Veterans Path to Hope.

“We support local veterans in need,” Cain said. “When there are no more veterans in need, that is our end date” to stop doing the game, he added.

In the meantime, about $2 million raised by the game has meant updating the kitchen and the main bar area, adding the Cedar room and its fireplace, updating the outdoor beer garden and redoing and adding to the parking lots.

As other veterans organizations have closed their social halls due to dwindling memberships, McHenry is expanding.

“Our membership and our auxiliary is growing because they see the energy and they want to be a part of what is going on,” Cain said.