SKYWAY, WA — While heavy snow was falling across the region during in early February, a toilet at the VFW Post 9430 in Skyway was running with no one around to turn it off.

The post was closed for 12 days after the first big snowstorm hit. The parking lot was buried in a foot or more of snow. Caretakers Emma Gavino and Chad Hassebroek were only able to get in after firefighters from the nearby King County Fire District 20 station pooled their money to rent a snowblower. "After we opened, we started cleaning, and then I said, 'I hear something,'" Gavino recalled. She sent her husband downstairs, and that's when he found the toilet. It had wasted 17,700 cubic feet of water while the post was closed during the storms.

When the bill came, Gavino and Hassebroek were floored: $4,400. If the post can't pay, the Skyway Water and Sewer District could shut the water off. Because they serve food and drinks, the post would have to close due to health and safety regulations. That would jeopardize the survival of the entire post, which is already experiencing dwindling membership.

"It would cripple the VFW, it would end the building," Gavino said Friday.

The post will hold a fundraiser on Saturday pay off that enormous bill. That would save the building, but much more. The post is a hub for the Skyway. Two Scouts BSA troops use the space for meetings, and there are frequent fundraisers for local schools and veterans. The building is the de facto city hall for Skyway, an unincorporated area between Seattle and Renton with no local government.

Then there are the veterans. Gavino and Hassebroek call 9430 a "destination post." Peope come from as far away as Gig Harbor and Tacoma for events, they said. The post hosts dinners for soldiers from Joint Base Lewis-McChord. It's also home to local veterans spanning World War II to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars who come for bowling or $1 taco nights.

"We have a lot of members from outside Skyway who transferred to post with all our community activities," Hassebroek, the post's quartermaster, said. "Our post is one of the most active in the state."

The post menu, which Hassebroek says is a vital resource for older local veterans. The water district does offer reimbursement for leaks like this, but only if they happen outside the building, Skyway Water administrative services manager Agnes Hicks said. Hicks said the water district will do all it can to work with the post to take care of the bill.

For now, the post has set up a payment plan, but Gavino said even that is too costly. They hope to raise at least $3,000 on Saturday, but are hoping for the whole $4,400.