POST 149 ADJUTANT | BILL STINTSMAN

What does your future hold? Winning the lottery? Wouldn’t that be awesome? Traveling the world? That would be expensive, so win that lottery. Just getting by? Now, that’s more like the average. Like your unknowns, our Post is mired in uncertainty. Unlike your unknowns, our uncertainty impacts hundreds of people, a building, and a legacy of the institution. Each day I come to work I wonder just how many days our Post has left. The cost of keeping our building open and operational is more than our income. State and federal minimum wage increases have absolutely killed many businesses, and we are one. The American Legion, a national institution founded on the betterment of veterans, is living on borrowed time, and our Post specifically is closer to a great demise than you might think. How close, you ask? Before the end of calendar year 2024, our Post doors will close for good unless something changes immediately.

Every week someone complains about the lack of weekly Sunday breakfast, not having Friday dinners anymore, not having this or that or the other thing happening at the Post like we did several years ago. The lack of Post events is not the solution to the problem. What was once an eight- or ten-dollar meal is now $15.00 just to break even on food costs, but that comes at a loss when you factor in utilities to hold the events. The cost of living in today’s world is so out of control that businesses like ours, those that are supposed to provide an outlet and a gathering spot for fellow veterans and their families, are teetering on the verge of bankruptcy at the local and national levels. Hardly anyone shows up for breakfast on the weekends that we do cook. Monthly general meetings have little to no attendance compared to our overall population. Post events are not supported by our membership; therefore, we have to stop throwing money at events nobody attends. Non-profit clubs and businesses have specific requirements that prevent us from opening our doors to the public in order to stay operational, therefore, it takes the “body”, the members of the organization, to turn this around, not the few of us that are here witnessing it every day.