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Stepping up for Forestville legion

Memorial Day celebrations remind us of the many men and women who have given their lives for our American way of life.

On May 24, we lost one of our comrades, Richard Mosher. The man was an absolute saint, his love of family attendance and participation at St. Peter’s Church and his dedication to our Legion describes what a special man he was.

I was elected commander 18 years ago, which was a term of two years. At that time, a checklist was made for the necessary repairs of our Legion building. In some areas, the floor was sagging, the roof leaked, the foundation wall in the kitchen area was pushing in, there was no handicap accessible entrance to the building, the bathrooms needed to be gutted and remodeled. Snow blew inside around the window frames. The repairs were possible, but not without money.

The membership dues, which are $40 a year allow our Legion to keep only 12 percent. Without a liquor license, just how are we going to make all these repairs?

Our wonderful New York Sen. Cathy Young comes to the rescue in getting New York State Division of Veterans’ Affairs Applications. A grant needed to be written describing the project and cost. If approved, the amount of money you applied for has to be spent and then the bills submitted to the Veterans Affairs for reimbursement.

Legionnaire Richard Slawson wrote two grants. One for new windows and an entrance door. The other was for a new roof.

A new roof, fascia and soffit was needed. The cost of material was estimated at $20,000. The Legion only had $10,000. Bob Duff came to our rescue and lent us $10,000 interest free until we got the reimbursement from the Division of Veterans’ Affairs.

Auxiliary member, Marlene Bradigan, wrote a grant for remodeling the kitchen and new appliances. The Auxiliary even sold their fancy dishes to help pay for the remodeling.

All members of the Auxiliary and Legion have contributed to bring back our Legion building to respectability and beauty.

The members who have helped me repair our Legion from start to finish are Doug Hahn, Richard Mosher and Richard Yeager. We have spent countless hours and days completing these tasks and in the end it was very rewarding and fun.

All the true Americans I have mentioned by name have respect for God and country and they are local heroes. They are not people who protest, destroy public property or burn the American flag.

Richard Bradigan is a Forestville resident.

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