American Legion Post 179 Needs Our Help

To all Legion members of Post 179, family and friends near and far:

As most of you know we are still trying to complete the renovation of American Legion Post 179 in Charleston, SC and have hit the homestretch.  Unfortunately, we have run out of funding and need everyone’s help to get the word out and donate so we can pay the final invoice and finally have a place to call our own again!

We do so many wonderful things within our community and can’t continue without a permanent site.  The site is used primarily to conduct routine meetings/fund raising events to support things like:

Promoting the social welfare of the community

Assist needy and disabled Veterans, widows, and/or orphans of deceased Veterans

Provide entertainment, care and assistance to hospitalized Veterans or members of the Armed Forces of the United States

Perpetuate the memory of Veterans and provide comfort to their survivors

Conduct programs for religious, charitable, scientific, literary and educational purposes

Sponsor and/or participate in patriotic activities

Provide insurance benefits to members or members’ dependents

Provide social and recreational activities for members

Organize fund raisers for local charities or groups for underprivileged children   

And most of all, the Legion gives members and their families a place to gather and reflect on those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for the freedoms that we all enjoy today.  Our Veterans and members need us more than ever and we are depending on you to make this happen.  Please donate anything you can and help us reach our goal!

Another item to note is that many states allow 501(c)(19) Veteran organizations to have the benefit of allowing donors to deduct their charitable contributions on their Federal income tax returns!

Here are the reasons we are now asking for donations with our goal of $200,000:

We planned for a concrete slab foundation since we were not considered to be in a flood zone however, due to unforeseen changes within the county limits we are now in a flood zone.  Construction change required:  6ft above ground level which increased our planned costs for this by $42,000.

All of the kitchen, bar and bar equipment have been built by the membership and we have the granite top for the bar and the bathroom sinks and materials for the entire flooring (kitchen floor and bar floor already on the site).  Good news:  one of our members has volunteered his business to do all of the flooring!

The county required us to purchase a 1000-pound grease trap.  Every attempt to remove this requirement failed so once again we were forced to pay $8,200 plus installation labor with an overall cost of an additional $10,000.

The Legion purchased a used hood system for the kitchen two years ago and those costs totaled $10,000.  The county inspector then required the hood be insulated with another cost increase of $2,000.

Another recent change by the county was that we are required to have a permanent steel ladder with a cage for the hood system.  The hood system installers stated that the pitch of our roof doesn’t require it but the county made that decision for us.  Additional cost for ladder and cage:  $10,000.

 And last but not least, 95% of the building is wood.  Due to unforeseen shortages and our current pandemic state with COVID-19 the cost of the materials jumped 140%.  This is where most of our budget was consumed but not planned.

Please spread the word near and far so we can meet our goal and continue to serve our community and our members out of the comforts of our own American Legion.  Thank you so much!

For God and Country, 

John Coy

Commander District 2, Dept. of SC

Commander, American Legion Post 179