With American Legion and VFW posts across the country struggling with steep membership declines and aging veterans, John Christina believes that Southold’s Griswold-Terry Glover American Legion Post 803 faces a simple choice: reinvent itself or fade away.
Over the past six months, Christina has been engaged in an ambitious effort to modernize the Southold Legion building and property, and transform it into a place that’s more welcoming to younger veterans.
“We get new members that come in, and then we never see them again,” the Southold vet said this week.
Christina personally solicited support from dozens of local businesses. The results, which should be complete in time for Memorial Day, are self-evident.
“We demolished everything,” Christina said. “We moved the dumpsters to the back [of the property]. We built a patio, planted trees and we’re having 12-foot countertops made, where you can have a barbeque, and ice chests to hold the meat. We’ve got a charcoal barbeque and a propane barbeque. I’m trying to make it where we can stay outdoors instead of inside the building all the time.”
There’s a new bocce court coming in, patriotically-decorated picnic tables, as well as an area set aside for horseshoe tosses and cornhole.
Widespread support from local businesses
Nearly all of the work and materials are being donated by local businesses.
Giuseppe Masonry owner Giuseppe Manno has been at the center of the effort.
“This guy has been the biggest supporter,” Christina said. “He has done more things for me than I can list. He goes the extra mile. “I said, ‘What am I going to owe you for that? And he said, ‘Don’t worry about it.’ He’s a sweetheart. His son is a Southold police officer.”
Manno and his crew this week were completing work on a fully-rebuilt outdoor patio after clearing large swaths of overgrown brush along the side of the property, work Christina said was necessary to reduce fire danger around the Legion building, which has occupied the site since 1861.
Braun Seafood Co. and Southold Fish Market donated $2,000 worth of concrete pavers for the patio. Michael Sears of Sears Ready-Mix in Calverton donated nine yards of concrete. Lowe’s in Riverhead donated a new shed, picnic tables, flag posts, lumber and thousands of dollars’ worth of tools. Home Depot in Riverhead is contributing a new grill for the outdoor cooking area.
The owner of Unit2Go Storage in Southold donated materials and helped construct a new bocce court, complete with track lighting for nighttime games. Christina plans to mount a blackboard on the side of the shed so that groups can reserve time for the bocce court. The entire exterior of the building is going to be repainted, after Aboff’s Paint in Riverhead reached out to Benjamin Moore, which agreed to donate all the paint. A damaged, second floor windowframe on a room upstairs where the Southold PBA meets will be replaced by an emergency exit, according to Christina.
Additional financial support came from the Long Island Cauliflower Association, Hoeg Dental Group in Riverhead and other local donors. Richard Corazzini of Corazzini Asphalt in Cutchogue, whose company is expected to rebuild the parking lot, purchased $500 worth of raffle tickets to support the Legion.
Dart’s Tree Farm donated trees, while Coastal Plantings owner Ian Zuhoski uprooted a large tree and replanted it elsewhere on the property, for free. Inside the hall, a group of mostly retired Southold volunteers known as “Tuesday’s Crew” installed new stalls and fixtures in the bathrooms.
Other businesses that donated materials to the massive effort include Beachwood Masonry Supplies,Latham Sand & Gravel, North Fork Sanitation, Sand Lot, Lake Landscape & Mason Supplies, Mattituck Environmental, Geraghty Electric, North Fork Landscapes and Amagansett Building Materials.
Every single donor was brought on board with a personal appeal from Christina, a colorful and energetic 78-year-old.
“All you’ve got to do is ask people,” he said, “and they want to help the Legion.”
‘Time to pass the torch’
The upgrades are part of Christina ’s broader effort to reshape the atmosphere at the Legion through outdoor gathering spaces, barbecues, community events and a more welcoming social environment aimed at breaking away from what he sees as the “old guys sitting around” stereotype that has hurt veterans organizations nationwide.
“We gotta burn out, not rust out,” Christina said. “Most of the guys who do all the work, they’re in their mid-to-late 70s. Time to pass the torch.”
His concerns reflect a growing national problem.
According to a recent report in Stars and Stripes, membership in traditional veterans organizations has fallen sharply over the past several decades. The Veterans of Foreign Wars now has roughly 1.5 million members ( about half its peak membership from 30 years ago), while Disabled American Veterans membership fell below 1 million last year for the first time in nearly four decades. The American Legion has also experienced significant declines as older generations die off and younger veterans join at far lower rates.
Conversely, newer organizations, like the Wounded Warrior Project — which serves post 9/11 veterans and active-duty service troops — has doubled its membership to 300,000 since 2018, according to Stars and Stripes.
Like many Legion veterans nationwide, Christina believes many younger veterans simply don’t feel connected to the traditional culture of Legion posts. So his biggest focus has been physically reshaping the Legion property itself. His vision is to host breakfasts, cookouts and casual outdoor events that encourage veterans and community members alike to get together and socialize.
“I’m trying to make it where we stay outdoors, instead of staying inside the building all the time,” he said.
Pricey parking lot reconstruction
The Legion’s financial challenges remain substantial.
Christina said two major snowstorms this winter cost the organization roughly $4,000 in snow removal expenses. Meanwhile, a deteriorating parking lot that originally required only patchwork repairs now needs a complete reconstruction project estimated at more than $127,000, after years-old pavement work failed during the winter.
“We were going to do a patch job for $40,000, and after the two snowstorms everything got so bad and deteriorated, we need a whole new parking lot,” Christina said, adding that he is now waiting anxiously to hear whether a potential benefactor will cover the cost.
“If he says yes, I’m going to jump up and down,” Christina said. “If he says no, I don’t know what we’re going to do.”
Christina said he knows the renovations alone will not solve the Legion’s long-term problems. But he hopes the project sends a message that the post is still alive, and still capable of serving both veterans and the wider Southold community in meaningful ways.
“We served our country. Now we serve our community.”
Making a difference
Christina says his patriotism began with his family, especially his father — a World War II veteran and roofing contractor who taught him the value of hard work, resilience and treating people fairly.
Growing up in Brooklyn, Christina worked alongside his father from a young age and said he absorbed lessons simply by watching how he ran his business and interacted with workers and customers. He credits those early experiences with shaping the his own work ethic and entrepreneurial drive that has animated his efforts on behalf of the American Legion.
Christina retired in 2021, following 57 years of work in roofing and home repair. He said he feels compelled to “make a difference” by helping veterans and strengthening the Southold community.
He speaks passionately about supporting veterans struggling with PTSD and believes the American Legion can provide purpose, camaraderie and healing for former service members who might otherwise feel isolated.
“My main thing is PTSD,” Christina said. “I want to help those guys, give them support, give them someone to talk to, something to do.”