BELMONT — American Legion Post 312 is offering residents the opportunity to say “pasta la vista” to their hunger Sunday.

The post will host its annual spaghetti dinner fundraiser Sunday from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. at the Belmont Gym, 209 Brown St., to help the Legion post remain financially stable.

This year will mark John Waugh’s first dinner as post commander. Waugh is taking the place of former commander Terry Puperi who died earlier in the year.

As a way to remember Puperi, Sunday’s fundraiser will be held in his honor.

“Terry has been the commander ever since I’ve been here the past five years,” Waugh said. “He was battling cancer, and looked like he was beating cancer. And then one day, from my understanding, he had a massive heart attack and passed away.”

He added that the spaghetti dinner is the post’s only fundraiser it does throughout the year.

“We have no canteen, we have no restaurant, we have no bar. The dues are $35 a year. The International Legion keeps $32.50. We get $2.50 per member,” Waugh said. “So with the 21 members that we have active right now, they get $400-some dollars and we get less than $100, so this dinner is a survival of the post and the museum.”

​​The Tri-State Military Veterans Museum is housed at the Belmont American Legion post, so if the Legion post doesn’t have enough money to maintain its building, the museum would not be able to continue.

Waugh added that the main goal of the dinner is to allow the post to afford to give back to the community.

“We host the village of Belmont’s Memorial Day Parade. We decorate 700 to 800 veterans’ graves before Memorial Day. We take the flags off after Labor Day, and we have a flag retirement ceremony of all the flags that we had gathered,” he said.

The spaghetti dinner will have desserts provided by So Nuts for Donuts, spaghetti and green beans with ham hocks and various drinks.

Belmont County Commissioner J.P. Dutton said that a lot of people don’t understand the amount of hard work events like the spaghetti dinner takes to make happen. He added that it’s run entirely by volunteers, which he commends.

“I think that’s what makes our communities so great, and the fact people are able to take that time and roll up their sleeves and make sure that events like this happen, because events like this are crucial,” Dutton said. “This event is specifically important in terms of the Tri-State Veterans Museum. Without events like this, I don’t know that the museum could remain in operation.”

He added that it’s very difficult for small museums across the state of Ohio to continue to operate.

“The hard work by the American Legion 312 really allows that to happen. And this is truly epitome of the service organization. Everything that they do throughout the year, all the hard work that they put in is making sure the museum can stay open, the flag burning ceremony, they do all the types of things that are just so necessary and these guys all give everything they have to make sure that stuff happens,” Dutton said.

Another one of the volunteers taking the time to ensure the post stays strong is Kurt Turner.

Turner served as a Hospital Corpsman in the Navy from 1965-68 and did one tour in Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

In 2023, Turner released a book called I’ve Never Been To Heaven: (But I’ve Been To Oklahoma) which is a detailed description of serving in the Navy and the PTSD he was diagnosed with once he returned.

His book will be raffled off during the silent auction that will also have various Wheeling Nailers memorabilia, area restaurant gift cards, a car care kit, and many more items.

Turner added that if someone is interested in purchasing his book it can be found online at Amazon.com.

On Friday morning C-CAP probation officer Kara Mowery and C-CAP student Blake Marchlenski helped the Legion members prepare for Sunday’s fundraiser.

Marchlenski said that he believes it’s important to volunteer within the community because everybody can always use a helping hand.

“Sometimes it’s just good to help out,” he said.

Mowery added that due to C-CAP being a juvenile program the children have more mobility to help the older community members.

“We’re happy to come and assist. We have some younger kids that have a ton of energy, and it’s just super easy for them,” she said. “This is a great asset to our community, and we’re happy to be here to help them out.”