For close to a century, the home of Doylestown’s A.R. Atkinson Jr. American Legion Post 210 has provided a special gathering place for veterans, their families and the larger community.
Weddings, birthday parties, dances, Boy Scout meetings, renowned pancake breakfasts and much more are commonplace.
And, of course, its significance as both a social and support center for the men and women who have served the country anchors all it does.
But, struggling to keep up with the needed maintenance has been a challenge for both the American Legion and the VFW that call the North Street Post home. Today, the two-story, modest brick building is in disrepair and many of its members want nothing more than to return it to its better days.
“The whole kitchen needs redone, the roof, the whole downstairs,” said Ed Lopez, a U.S. Army vet and chair of the fundraising committee working to raise $300,000 to support the project.
“We need to get back to our roots,” said the 55-year-old, who grew up in Doylestown. “This building represents the whole community.”
The group has already received $200,000 in grants for new stairs and a parking lot and hopes to find more support from local, state and federal programs, as well as residents and businesses.
Restoring Post 210 holds deep, personal meaning for Lopez and other veterans who have found refuge and much-needed camaraderie there. Ensuring younger soldiers have that same accepting space, said Lopez, is a large part of his motivation to restore the building.
For some though, the time had come to sell the property. But, in a close vote recently the approximately 250 Legion members and 125 VFW members chose to keep trying. However, Lopez said, if the money can’t be raised to get the building back in shape, another vote to put it on the market is on the horizon.
That’s a hard pill to swallow for Lopez and Chris Serafin, a Navy vet who served four combat tours in Iraq and Kuwait and is working with those trying to save the post’s home.
“I felt very alone when I came back to Doylestown,” explained Lopez, as he remembered returning to his hometown, barely 22 years old. As a non-commissioned officer he had spent three years in Germany and about nine months in Iraq, where he engaged in “open, desert combat” and saw “horrific things” on the “Highway of Death,” a six-lane road between Kuwait and Iraq.
He never spoke of any of it when he came back. Until 2011, he said, “no one knew I was in the military.”
That’s when he became involved with the VFW, which was creating the Bucks County War on Terror Memorial. He discovered he wasn’t alone; other veterans cared.
“Vets need a home,” said Lopez. “There’s a thin line between adjusting and going the other way...we all need human interaction.” Serafin knows that, too. He’s helped many fellow servicemen and servicewomen navigate the Veterans Administration to get greatly needed help, “before it’s too late; before suicide,” he said, softly. “It’s good to have that connection and continue the special camaraderie vets share.” Post 210 opens that door, the men agreed.
“Letting the building go would be a tragedy,” said Lopez, not only for veterans but for the many organizations that rely on it.
To learn more about the fundraising effort, visit: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-save-american-legion-post-210-building-in-doylestown-pa.
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