No Place Like Ocean City American Legion’s New Home
By Maddy Vitale
OCEAN CITY – American Legion Morvay-Miley Post 524 members are used to helping their community, giving to groups, and assisting veterans with services and programs. But thanks to continued fundraising efforts, generosity of the community and determination on the part of its members, they are closer to moving into a new building at 46th Street and West Avenue.
“We are looking at the beginning of the new year,” Chairman of the Legion’s Fundraising Committee Rob Cozen, a Navy veteran, said Sunday, Nov. 5. “We are probably 80 percent done. The actual physical structure is done. The floors and the tile are down. There are just some other things that need to be done before we move in.”
The Legion is currently in a building on 33rd Street and Bay Avenue, which is too small to service the members’ needs. It is also one of four buildings the post has rented since being established 17 years ago.
“We are now over 500 members. We are the fastest growing American Legion probably in the state,” Cozen, 70, said. “We are going through a period now where veterans’ organizations are losing members, not gaining them. The fact that our membership has grown is a testament to our leadership.”
Members include not only the Legion, but the American Legion Auxiliary and the Sons of the American Legion and many of its members attend events at the Legion. All the more reason why the organization has outgrown its space. The new building is 4,800 square feet.
In 2014 the City gave the Legion the property to lease for $1 a year for 50 years. “The city gave us the property with the idea that we would build on it. Up until that time, we rented a space. We always knew we would have to find another space for the organization,” Cozen said.
But buildings cost money. The Legion started fundraising and never stopped.
It started off that it would be $150,000 to $250,000.
“We raised $500,000 and we still aren’t done,” Cozen said. “This is an ongoing thing. Once it is open, it is not the end. We have to continue fundraising to keep it going.”
The cost of the project neared $500,000 with additional unexpected costs.
“We had some issues. We can deal with it. This building is a gift from our generation of warriors to the next generation, and it is our gift to Ocean City. We need Ocean City to help support us,” Cozen said. “This building should be a place that veterans go to enjoy and relax and be themselves and find anything they need.”
The American Legion does a lot for veterans and for the community.
With the motto: Veterans Serving Veterans, the group does a multitude of things for veterans.
