American Legion Veterans Center At Risk of Closing

Veterans center at risk of being shut down
FOX 5
BY ELLINA ABOVIAN
NOVEMBER 6, 2014

SAN DIEGO — A veterans community center in Linda Vista is at risk of being shut down for not having a wheelchair-accessible elevator to accommodate older and handicapped veterans.

The American Legion Community Center, built in 1972, does not meet current California handicap codes and must install an elevator.

The center is considered a second home for its nearly 400 members, said Marine veteran and Legion 1st Cmdr., John H. Priess.

“We have a special connection with each other and it’s a place we can come to and relate to each other,” Priess said. “To walk through this door, it’s like walking back into the military and being amongst the people I served with in the Marine Corps.”

The center is especially important to those members who suffer from PTSD and consider the Legion a place of therapy.

“People don’t feel like they belong in other places once they get out, and we feel like this is a home where we share our brotherhood,” said Sam Flores, a Marine veteran who fought in Afghanistan.
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