Veterans United gifts American Legion Post 202 $100,000 for new roof
COLUMBIA, Mo (KMIZ)
Like any veterans day, some people thank the ones who served our country. This year Veterans United Foundation was able to do more than thank the Veterans at American Legion Post 202.
American Legion Post 202 Columbia was awarded $100,000 from Veterans United Foundation. This comes after Post 202 created the "Raising the roof for our veteran's project."
Because of scheduling conflicts, Columbia Mayor Brian Treece presented the check on behalf of Veterans United Foundation.
American Legion is a non-profit organization focused on bettering the well-being of America's veterans, their families, our military, and our communities by our devotion to mutual helpfulness.
The project was an effort to get funding for a new roof at Post 202. Bridget McGuire is an American Legion Member at Post 202 and works for Veterans United Foundation.
McGuire said Veterans United Foundation announced they wanted to donate $10 million to different organizations for their ten-year anniversary and will start accepting applications. That's when she got the idea to send one in.
"Where I work at Veterans United, they announced their foundation was going to receive applications for projects you wanted to see happen in the community to celebrate their 10th anniversary with being existence," said McGuire
Employees had to vote for organizations and Post 202 won the grant after getting 264 votes from Veterans United Foundation.
Melvin Bradley, Commander at American Legion Post said everyone at Post 202 was happy to get the grant. He said if they didn't get funding, they would have had to raise the money another way or settle for a repair.
Bradley says American Legion provides a lot to veterans but most of their money comes from renting out Post 202.
"That's how we make our money, its what keeps the Post open. That's kind of our lifeblood is rentals," said Bradley
Bradley added that now the will be fixed, they can focus on fixing the building electrical issues and building a new ramp for the entrance. American Legion Post 202 says they don't know how soon the repairs will be done but they are getting pricing.
Hodges Roofing will replace the roof and Post 202 says the replacement will take a week to get done.