Ephrata American Legion celebrates new digs
cutlines:<br>Post Commander Kenneth Koplin, donors Marv and Shirley Wixson and Helen and Erle Sola, and former Post Commander Mike Montaney celebrate the opening of the new American Legion Post 28 headquarters in Ephrata.
Donations account for most of cost for former Elks Lodge
It will be much easier for Ron Henry to find the American Legion Post 28 when he comes to Ephrata.
Henry, department vice commander for area three of the American Legion, celebrated the opening of Post 28 new headquarters at the corner of C Street NW and Eighth Avenue NW, along with about 50 fellow Legion members and other community supporters.
"Ephrata and Post 28 have made a great purchase of this building," Henry said.
The move is an upgrade for Post 28, whose previous locale was tucked behind the Bell Hotel on Division Street. That building had been Post 28's home since 1940.
The new building, Henry said, is larger and located just off the highway from Soap Lake, which is handier for the Spokane-area resident.
Post 28, which was chartered in 1921, purchased the building from the Elks Lodge, whose trustees wanted the building to remain in the community's hands and not sell to a business, former Post Commander Mike Montaney said.
"You wouldn't believe the deal if you knew the details," Montaney said.
In addition to the generous deal offered the Elks Board of Trustees, Post 28 received more than a dozen individual donations to help pay for the building, Montaney said.
Included were two big donors: Marv and Shirley Wixson donated $30,000, and Erle and Helen Sola gave $50,000 to the American Legion for the new building.
The post received so much in donations, Montaney said, that only two mortgage payments will be made before the building is paid off.
"It is our hope and desire that this edifice be ever in the service of our disabled and comrades" and family members of veterans, Kenneth Koplin, current post commander, said.
Montaney said the legion has been a big support for the soldiers fighting the war in Iraq. He read a letter from Capt. David Linville, who commands the Army National Guard's Ephrata-based 1161st Transportation Company.
"The efforts of the American Legion have made a difference to the soldiers here," said Linville, who thanked members of the Legion for the care packages they sent to the troops in Iraq.