Many of you have probably passed by the small white building on North Twin Valley Road and wondered what was inside. Well, it’s the Colonel Jacob Morgan American Legion Post 537 and they are outgrowing their building.
They officially kicked off their Building Fund Drive this past summer with a hoagie sale.
“We want to expand the building and facilities so we can improve our service to the community,” explained Jan Creitz, one of the Building Fund’s Committee members.
They are currently selling tickets for their Great American Outdoors Raffle, which includes a chance to win a 12-ft. Sun Dolphin Aruba model kayak, a 10-person Weather Master Coleman tent, or $250 cash. The winning tickets will be drawn on Super Bowl Sunday (Feb. 4, 2018) and only 1,000 tickets will be sold. As of this week there are less than 500 tickets left. Tickets can be purchased at the American Legion for $5.00 each or from a member of the Building Fund Committee. Please call the Legion at 610-286-5920 for more details.
Post 537 was established in 1954 and the following units are housed at the Post: Legionnaires, Sons, Auxiliary, Riders, and Social Members. You have probably seen the Legion members out and about as they are very active in the local community.
Some of the ways the Legion members give back to the community: they serve as the Color Guard at the Memorial Day celebration at the cemeteries and at the Elverson Parade; they regularly hold chicken BBQs to raise money for various community and special projects they donate towards; the Auxiliary hosts an Easter Egg Hunt for the public and a Christmas Party for members’ children; they offer scholarships to Twin Valley graduates; they volunteer at the local food banks and visit Veterans’ Hospitals and take the residents supplies; they sponsor Twin Valley Legion Baseball and the Reading Buccaneers Drum and Bugle Corps; and they have supplied a flag for the Village Library as well as many other worthwhile projects.
The Post collects damaged flags and every year they hold a Flag Retirement Ceremony and invite veterans from surrounding communities to come and have lunch. Damaged flags can be dropped off at the Legion where they will be respectfully retired. Post members annually participate in Wreaths Across America in December and they donated money towards the plaque and monument honoring the WWII crew and pilot of a B-24 Bomber, who crashed in West Nantmeal Township during a training mission.
“Membership continues to grow each year. This past year about 80 new members have joined and for the past two years the Post has won the membership award for our district. We are outgrowing the facilities we have. By expanding we will have more space for our own events, but then also be able to rent out the facility to community members for weddings, parties, or other festive occasions,” stated Auxiliary member Linda Jacobs.
The members are always busy coming up with new ideas on how to fundraise money for their special projects and spend time together. One of the major fundraisers the Building Committee is organizing will be a Golf Tournament on May 5, 2018. The Committee is feverishly working at gathering sponsors to make it a great event for the community. Please contact the Legion if you would like to help or donate to this worthy cause. All help is greatly appreciated.
Many people probably think the American Legion is just for veterans, but it’s not. Yes, many members are veterans, but there are family members of veterans who have joined either as a Son or an Auxiliary member, and then there are just regular people from all walks of life who make up our Social Members. When you walk into the Post, it’s just like a scene out of the TV show “Cheers”-everyone knows your name and welcomes you. The Legion is a family outside of your regular family at home. Post 537 is a great non-smoking Post and they offer lots of fun activities for their members as well as the community. There always seems to be something going on at the Post! Contact the Legion to see how you can become a member today.
