New Legionnaire Park a Tribute to Community and Service

American Legion Post 215 now boasts a beautifully enhanced space known as Legionnaire Park, a project brought to life through a combination of grant funding and donations, local craftsmanship, and volunteer hours.

Last fall, the post received a $6,000 grant from the Alabama Mountains, Rivers & Valleys Resource Conservation and Development Council (AMRVCD) for a privacy fence. After surveying the property to determine boundaries for the new fence, we discovered the post owns more property than previously thought.

Paul J. Vishaway, a retired Seabee with a builder certification, and I created a plan for the new park. Paul J. not only did some of the work himself but he also oversaw the project. We received a generous cash donation from the DeKalb Master Gardeners to help with the effort. The budget for the grant money was: $2,000 for the survey; $1,800 for the bricklayer; $2,200 at Lowes for Adirondack chairs, propane fire pit and heaters, and wiring that included dimmable string lights. With donated labor and donations applied to materials, we built a swing and replaced some 77-year-old plumbing. We also put in a woodburning fire pit for the retirement ceremony of American Flags.

As a non-profit, 501c19 organization, we were able to obtain further donations to enhance the space:

• Lowes: Donated wood for the privacy fence and provided the labor to install it.
• Builders Supply: Donated concrete blocks to rebuild a wall.
• Dixie Salvage: Contributed two picnic tables and, previously, a propane grill.
• Mentone Public Works Director Paul Nail: Delivered and graded several truckloads of dirt and seeded the area with grass.

The park has nine military flags on the privacy fence with the dates of their establishment on a wooden plaque beneath each. In future Groundhog issues, I will write about how the military flags were designed. Next month will be the U.S. Army, followed by, in order of their founding, the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Space Force, U.S. Seabees, Don’t Tread on Me, U.S. Merchant Marines and finally the United States of America flag.

For more information and photos of how our new outdoor addition came together, please check out “Mentone American Legion Post 215” on Facebook.