HANCOCK COUNTY — In the very back, behind another business at 3525 U.S. 40, is the temporary home of the New Palestine American Legion Post 182. It’s a small structure and, according to fire code, can only hold 49 people at once, Post Commander Terry Ordille said.
“It’s not ideal when we’ve got about 200 members,” he said. “We’ve been here about a year and a half.”
Post leadership is in the midst of trying to purchase the old Hancock Health New Palestine medical facility, 7375 U.S. 52. While there are plans to submit an offer for the land and structure as soon as this week, Post 182 leadership is still in search of funding to remodel the inside should they get the property.
Without a new facility and a proper place to host all the fundraising events, such as festivals and card games for the community, which Post officials love to do, their giving and community service has decreased tremendously.
Linda Caine, whose husband and family have served and been a part of Post 182 for decades, noted she’s willing to match fundraising offers up to $150,000 to help Post officials get into a new facility and back to their American Legion Post 182 mantra of giving.
“We’re a 103-year-old Post and we’ve never really had our own home,” Caine, who is the president of the women’s auxiliary, said.
Ordille said the search for a new place to call home started about two years ago. The post had a working partnership with the New Palestine Lions Club and met there for years. The post even helped officials with the Lions Club remodel the old facility as well as raise funds during events, but when the Lions Club partnered with Broken Arrow Outreach, the longtime relationship with Post 182 broke, and that left the post in search of a new facility.
“The Broken Arrow people got on the board and we were out,” Caine said.
Post officials were able to find a piece of land at 4575 West U.S. 40, to the West of Washington Village Apartments and planned to build a new structure there. However, once the land was purchased, officials with the post found out it was going to cost well over $1 million to build a new facility. That, Ordille said, was beyond their means.
“We were wanting to build a nice pole barn, and that cost was well over our numbers of about a half a million,” he said.
So while the Post still owns the land at 4575 West U.S. 40, they feel the empty medical building on U.S. 52, which used to house New Palestine family practice for doctors, would be a better place.
“We decided if it’s going to cost a million, we might as well look at something that’s a little bit better or already existing,” Ordille said. “We’re looking at that building which is back in New Palestine and it would be good for us to be there.”
The building has been sitting empty for over two years now and officials with the post feel it could be an ideal new home. While they are hoping they have funds to purchase the structure from officials with Hancock Regional Health, the cost to remodel the facility is where they need some help.
“They’re asking close to a million so we’re hoping we can get it, but it needs a lot of work,” Ordille said. “The sooner we can get the building, get it paid off, the sooner we can start work on the inside because it’s a doctors office with compartments inside and that’s not what we need.”
That’s what longtime post member Bill McCoy wants to see happen. The former Koran War veteran, who has been a post member for three decades, wants the post to get the new facility, get settled and start raising funds for the community so they can make donations like they’ve done for decades.
“We’ve never had a home, but we’ve always found a way to give,” McCoy said.
Post 182 has around 200 members, but they are currently meeting in a small room behind another building off of U.S. 40 that only holds 49 people. Wednesday, June 14, 2023.
Tom Russo | Daily Reporter
Post 182 has around 200 members, but they are currently meeting in a small room behind another building off of U.S. 40 that only holds 49 people. Wednesday, June 14, 2023.
Tom Russo | Daily Reporter
Bob Weymouth, 1st Vice Commander of American Legion Post 182, stands in the tiny area designated for club members. Post 182 has around 200 members, but they are currently meeting in a small room behind another building off of U.S. 40 that only holds 49 people. Wednesday, June 14, 2023.
Tom Russo | Daily Reporter
Michael Fowler, left, and Bob Weymouth, 1st Vice Commander of American Legion Post 182, stand in the tiny area designated for club members. Post 182 has around 200 members, but they are currently meeting in a small room behind another building off of U.S. 40 that only holds 49 people. Wednesday, June 14, 2023.
Tom Russo | Daily Reporter
Bob Weymouth, 1st Vice Commander of American Legion Post 182 walks in the tiny area designated for club members. Post 182 has around 200 members, but they are currently meeting in a small room behind another building off of U.S. 40 that only holds 49 people. Wednesday, June 14, 2023.
Tom Russo | Daily Reporter
The NP American Legion Post has donated to the Southern Hancock School District, including the creation of displays, plaques with the Bill of Rights and the United States Constitution at New Palestine High School.
“Our crowning achievement is the memorial at Sugar Creek Park,” McCoy said.
The post also helps veterans go on the Honor Flights to Washington D.C. and raises funds for families and veterans in need in and around the New Palestine area. That included helping the New Palestine Police Department purchase their K-9 dog.
“It’s killing us not being able to have a place where we can raise some monies through events and give to the community,” McCoy said.
The post is known for hosting bingo, euchre and other card events as well as hosting festivals. Ordille said that before the pandemic they were giving away about 50% of the money they raised, including in 2019 when they raised $135,000.
“We gave $75,000 of that away to people in need,” Ordille said.
Once the bid from the post, which is a nonprofit organization, to purchase the facility is submitted to Hancock Health, post officials are hoping the paperwork is accepted, which could take several weeks they noted.
Anyone wishing to help out with the cause who needs more information can reach out to Mike Fowl at [email protected] or mail a donation to the New Palestine American Legion Post 182 Post Office Box, 299, New Palestine, 46163.
