Alabama Legion Riders raise $21,000
American Legion Rider Chapter 107 in Leeds, Ala., donates the money to camp for children with cancer.
See more about Camp Smile-a-Mile on The American Legion Online Update at www.legion.org.
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American Legion helped Sgt. York build York Institute by pledging $1 per member in the 1920s and 30s, and help is being sought today from the AL for saving the structure.
The Sgt. York Patriotic Foundation is asking you to help save the original school building erected though the efforts of one of America’s most decorated heroes.
In the 1920s Sgt. Alvin C. York raised money to build a school for those children and adults of the Cumberland Plateau who desired to earn a formal education. On two separate occasions Sgt. York mortgaged his own home and farm to ensure the school’s survival.
Through a prolonged, hard fought battle, perhaps more difficult that the World War I service that earned him a Congressional Medal of Honor and similar honors from around the world, York was able open and sustain the school that today bears his name.
Now listed in the National Register of Historic Places, York Institute was erected with funds raised by York’s speaking tours across the country. Standing on a foundation York himself helped to dig, the two-story brick structure was abandoned for a more modern adjacent facility in 1979.
The original building, which should be a monument to that achievement, has in recent years become a derelict shell of what it should be, falling into such disrepair that the State of Tennessee announced that the building was slated for demolition.
After a 364-day struggle and a series of hearings at the State Capitol and in Jamestown, the forces for restoration prevailed late in 2008, when the state agreed to deed the property to the 501c3 Sergeant York Patriotic Foundation (SYPF) and allow it to use the money designated for demolition to stabilize the structure.
Phase I of this $1 million remediation and stabilization project has been completed. The State of Tennessee will match dollar-for-dollar all money raised by the SYPF up to $500,000. With this funding Phase II can begin, which will sufficiently “mothball” the structure while a major fundraising campaign is undertaken to rehabilitate the school.
Ultimately, the building will allow York Institute to expand, quite possibly offering a venue to teach new technologies that Sgt. York could never have imagined but, with his educational vision, would most certainly have approved.
visit www.sgtyorkpatrioticfoundation,blogsspot.com or www.sgtyork.org for a comprehensive look at Sgt. York’s struggle. You will note that the American Legion helped to build the structure and complete Sgt. York’s dream. The SYPF is asking that the American Legion help us preserve his legacy and continue his dream by helping us raise the money needed to complete Phase I of the project. Please note my contact information below, and call me to offer any assistance possible. Thanks so much for your consideration. Claudia Johnson-Nichols, SYPF Executive Director
Sergeant York Patriotic Foundation
Email: sypfdirector@gmail.com
Phone: 931.347.2664
Donations:
P.O.B. 100
Pall Mall, Tennessee 38577
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