The legion’s empty open house on Sunday was representative of the post’s main problem right now, according to Doug Hoffman, the Post 326 commander — a lack of new traffic at the veterans’ hall. Lake Placid’s legion membership is aging, and young people aren’t stepping up to take the helm.

“It’s a very, very gray situation,” he said.

Members said the Lake Placid legion also lost a lot of business during the pandemic from community clubs and organizations that used to rent the post out for their events and fundraisers, and the groups that used the space never really came back. Legion members had hoped Sunday’s open house could revive the post as a community venue once again.

Legions across the country have been closing their doors as their members age, new membership and volunteers dwindle, and finances get tighter — hardships that were exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. The nonprofit legion halls were struggling with membership rates prior to the pandemic, according to the Associated Press, and economic shutdowns throughout the pandemic caused many of the halls to close like other bars and venues. Some never fully recovered.

Jim Hadjis, a veteran and member of the American Legion Post 326 in Lake Placid, smiles outside the post on Sunday. (Enterprise photo — Lauren Yates)

The legion post in AuSable Forks closed its doors after 74 years this past April following a “dramatic” loss in veterans, volunteers and business. Paired with inflation and pandemic-related restrictions, AuSable Forks Legion Post Adjutant Geoff Hewston said keeping the post open was “impossible.”

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Past and present struggles

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While talk of closing Lake Placid’s post wasn’t circulating on Sunday, it has before — back in 2016.

Bob Marvin, a veteran and member of the American Legion Post 326 in Lake Placid, smiles outside the post on Sunday. (Enterprise photo — Lauren Yates)

Stuart Spotts, 49, a veteran of the U.S. Marines, is one of the younger members at the Lake Placid legion, where Hoffman said membership age now averages around 65 to 70 years old. Spotts became an integral part of the post after the legion’s open house in 2016, when legion members last looked to the community for young members and support.

Harrietstown town Supervisor Jordanna Mallach, a soldier in the National Guard, was the post’s commander at the time. The Lake Placid legion was struggling with membership, and she said the post had been reduced to “just a bar.” Mallach said she and other members hosted the open house to solicit new members and inform the community about just how much the legion relied on their support. Many of the post’s current members, including Spotts, weren’t actively involved with the post until after the 2016 open house.

Spotts remembers calling Mallach and saying, “Don’t close” — he was willing to step up and do whatever it took to help keep the place open. He now plays an active role in the post’s Veterans Day and Memorial Day ceremonies every year, which are two of the legion’s busiest days.

Hoffman said membership at the Lake Placid post was at 105 members in 2022, though many of those members aren’t active at the legion — many don’t even live in the region. The National Guard had a presence in Lake Placid during the 1980 Winter Olympics, according to Spotts, and National Guard members visited Lake Placid’s post and signed up for membership. The post mails out membership renewals every year to members as far as California, and they keep paying their dues.

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Members of Lake Placid’s American Legion Post 326 and Women’s Auxiliary (from left) junior member Piper Teig, member Bob Marvin, Women’s Auxiliary President Dede Strack, Commander Doug Hoffman, Women’s Auxiliary first Vice President Denise Perry, member Stuart Spotts, auxiliary member Sandy Mihill, and members Jim Hadjis, Jordanna Mallach and Kimball Daby smile outside Lake Placid’s American Legion Post 326 on Sunday. (Enterprise photo — Lauren Yates)

Support hubs

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American Legions were chartered by U.S. Congress in 1919, the year after World War I ended, as hubs for veteran support. Since then, other organizations — like Homeward Bound Adirondacks, a Malone-based nonprofit that organizes veterans retreats — have broadened the effort to support veterans. But Hoffman said the need for everyday support at legion posts is still there — especially after the U.S. war in Afghanistan, he said. Hoffman specifically noted “unacceptably high” suicide rates among U.S. veterans of all ages. The suicide rate among U.S. veterans in 2020 was 57% higher than among non-veteran adults, according to a 2022 report from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

“Sometimes those mental battle wounds go on for years and years,” Hoffman said.

Veterans in need of immediate support, or those concerned about someone who is a veteran, can call 988 then press 1 for the Veterans Crisis Line. The free line is confidential and available 24/7, and callers don’t have to be enrolled in VA benefits or healthcare to receive help.

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A place for everyone

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Throughout the mAmerican Legion’s more than 100-year evolution, Lake Placid vets say that the organization has extended its support to people beyond veterans — anyone, veteran or not, can come to Lake Placid’s legion post when they need someone to talk to.

The Lake Placid post also supports the community through fundraisers and scholarships, like the legion’s annual golf tournament that raises scholarship money for Lake Placid Central School students. The legion saves all of its redeemable cans from the bar and donates them to the local Boy Scouts troop, and post members offer free funeral services for veterans.

Local clubs and organizations can rent out the post’s building for events, too — people can even hold their graduation parties or funeral receptions at the local veterans hall.

Right now, Post 326 is in the midst of its annual membership drive. Hoffman said new membership has stalled at around 90, but the post is hoping for more. Membership dues are inexpensive — an annual $15 for Sons of the American Legion, $25 for the Women’s Auxiliary and $45 for legion members — and go toward the health of the post’s building and events like Sunday’s open house, according to Nicole Mizener, the post’s bar manager.

She compared dues to voting: Even though the dues might seem minuscule in the grand scheme of things, she said, that money makes a difference and helps the Lake Placid post keep its doors open.

The legion is also starting community pizza nights to drum up new members and increase traffic at the post. This Thursday from 5:30 to 7 p.m., the legion will welcome anyone who wants to visit the post for pizza and a viewing of “Saving America Begins with You.”