South Carolina Post 25’s American Legion Family has grown, thanks to its mission to assist and support its neighbors in Laurens County.
Just more than 10 years ago, American Legion Post 25 in Laurens, S.C., had just enough members to keep its charter. But through its efforts assisting and supporting those in its community, the post’s American Legion Family is thriving – especially at a time when many residents still are recovering from the effects of last September’s Hurricane Helene.
Post 25 Commander Kevin Farnsworth, who also serves as treasurer of American Legion Riders Chapter 25, estimates that dozens of Post 25’s Legion Family members have put in more than 1,000 hours working with South Carolina Emergency Management Division in recovery efforts. That’s even though many members of the post were impacted themselves by the devastating hurricane.
“I had devastation. A lot of our (members) had a lot of devastation,” Farnsworth said. “But it’s our goal in our post: to be a force for good in the community. We’ve always had that. We always will.”
That effort recently included spending multiple days assisting 87-year-old Post 25 member Buddy Baldwin, a Vietnam War veteran. Members of the post’s Legion Family moved trees from Baldwin’s roof, hauled off debris still on his property and were able to provide temporary patches to holes in his roof.
After Helene hit, the post used its Facebook page to share emergency information. But in addition to that, the post provided free water for pickup and also delivered food and water to those who couldn’t make it to the post. Nursing homes with downed trees saw members of the post come to cut them up for removal. And community roads that were blocked were made passable by members of the post’s Legion Family.
But the post’s efforts didn’t start and stop with relief efforts. Last fall it teamed with E.B. Morris Elementary for a month-long toy drive last fall, and most recently the Laurens County Sheriff's Office took to Facebook to thank the post for coordinating a community-wide cleanup effort in collaboration with Keep Laurens County Beautiful. The effort saw more than 300 bags of trash collected.
The post also has adopted two local cemeteries, spending thousands of dollars on repairs and maintenance in process. A three-day Veterans Day Boot Drive assists the post with funding such projects; Farnsworth said the post annually brings in $15,000-$20,000 through the effort.
“What we put into the community, believe me, we get 10 times back,” Farnsworth said. “We’re very heavily with the children (and) senior citizens. We’ve done so many handicapped ramps. We’ve done roofs. We’ve repaired inside homes. Anything that the people need, if we can do it, we’ll do it.
“We have our own committee that we sit down, we talk about it, we pick up the projects and we hit them hard.”
But those efforts have been noticed. Farnsworth said the post received a $200,000 grant through Laurens County that helped fund a new outdoor pavilion that saw its grand opening delayed to last October because of Helene.
“We’re in a small community,” Farnsworth said. “We’ve been working hard in the community to build our post, and we’re there now. We just bought property. We’re putting up a new home for the Legion.”
Farnsworth credits the membership for maintaining its standing in its community. “I’m proud of the post. For as small as we are, I think we’re one of the most active posts in the state,” he said. “It’s a proud group of people. They’re dedicated. I’ve never seen such a group of dedicated people before. It’s unbelievable their dedication.”
- Community