Developing a community can be hard. But a weekly series of chats over coffee and a doughnut aims to change that for some Jefferson County veterans.
On Tuesday mornings, the Big River VFW post in Cedar Hill welcomes veterans from all walks of life to have a free cup of coffee and a doughnut.
The coffee chat was started in November by Mark Newton and Ted Hodgson. The group has grown to an average of 30 attendees a week.
“There’s value in having friendship and collaboration, and being able to share the mutual jokes and stories, and have an understanding,” Hodgson said. “Honestly, a civilian many times will not understand our humor of what we’re referring to. Still, there’s things that we will talk about and laugh about that people just don’t quite get.”
He jokingly calls the coffee chat “non-denominational,” welcoming veterans from all branches of the military and walks of life.
For Justin Larsen, a Vietnam War veteran, the coffee chats are “real low-pressure.”
“It doesn’t matter when you served,” he said. “Come get some coffee and talk with veterans.”
Coffee chats are free and offered at 9 a.m. every Tuesday at 1 Lynn Lane, Cedar Hill. The VFW also hosts a free hot breakfast for veterans on the last Tuesday of every month.
‘Another way to serve veterans’
Both Newton and Hodgson served in the military; Newton spent a combined 22 years serving in the Navy and Army National Guard, and Hodgson spent 34 years in the military and retired as an Army colonel.
For Newton, starting the coffee chat was another way for him to continue to serve his community.
“I feel like I still need to serve,” he said. “Starting something like (the coffee chat), to me, is just another way to serve. Another way to serve veterans, another way to serve our community; just another way to serve us, to serve our people.”
Hodgson was first inspired to begin working with veterans after his retirement in 2012, when he realized how Missouri’s older veterans weren’t being well taken care of.
“We have a real problem with the older veterans, as far as suicide and isolationism, and not using the VA,” he said.
The VA, or the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, runs health and benefits programs to help veterans. The VA St. Louis Healthcare System serves approximately 70,000 veterans statewide, according to a strategic plan for fiscal years 2024-2027.
In the Missouri Veterans Commission 2025 report, the suicide rate for Missouri’s veterans is higher than the national average. Approximately 42.6 veterans out of 100,000 commit suicide in Missouri, compared to the national average of 34.7 veterans out of 100,000.
Providing support
While the group is focused on building a sense of community and camaraderie among veterans, Hodgson and Newton have begun bringing in veterans organizations to help attendees.
Connecting veterans to different resources and organizations has become an integral part of the coffee chat; for example, the VA and nonprofits in the broader St. Louis area have worked with the group.
Attendees are also connected to resources such as a 24-hour VA nurse hotline, Medicare advantage plans and access to free air conditioning units.
“We work hard at that,” Hodgson said. “We try to really provide some positive things.”
But what matters most to the group is its continued theme of supporting veterans.
“Giving the veterans a place to go and be with each other, sometimes maybe talk about problems we each have that might be the same with each other, it gives that avenue of communication to be able to open up to one another,” Newton said.
Reporter Cole Bailey contributed to this article.