Post 91 in Berea, Ohio, has given out around $100,000 yearly since 2024 to area nonprofits and first responders.
For years, American Legion Post 91 in Berea, Ohio, has regularly donated thousands of dollars to local nonprofits and provided grants to area municipalities. But those donations have seen a significant rise over the past three years.
From August of 2025 until March of this year, Post 91 provided $66,000 in donations and grants to members of its communities. And with $25,000 donations to Berea Community Outreach (BCO) each of the past three years, yearly donations have been around $100,000.
American Legion Post 91 Commander James Lockyer said the post has been donating to local nonprofits “as long as I can remember.” But starting in 2024, the post also began using its gaming revenue to donate $25,000 annually to BCO, whose mission includes operating a food pantry, offering senior programs, providing gifts for children at Christmas and Easter, delivering meals to shut-ins and filling backpacks for students in need at Grindstone Elementary and Berea-Midpark High schools.
“This money will go a long way,” Berea Mayor Cyril Kleem told Cleveland.com. “It will help hundreds of people, some of whom may be your neighbors. You have no idea how much this means to us.”
Post 91’s donation is the largest Berea receives in support of BCO. But it’s hardly the extent of the post’s generosity.
“Every month we donate because we get requests from various 501(c)3s. I go through them every week, and I present them at our monthly meetings,” said Lockyer, Ohio’s District 13 commander. “Our membership decides how much we want to donate. We keep a spreadsheet of who the post donates to every month so we know we’re giving to someone different each month.”
Over the most recent six-month period, Post 91 awarded $5,000 grants to both the Berea Police and Fire departments. “We do not give them a check. They give us a shopping list,” Lockyer said. “They’re like kids at Christmas. They give us a wish list … because they cannot accept a check. They give us an equipment list, and we order the equipment and deliver it to the fire chief and the police chief. And it all pertains to fire equipment and police equipment.”
Over that same time period, Post 91 also made $5,000 donations to:
· W.A.G.S. 4 Kids, which trains both mobility service and autism service animals for children in Central and Northwest Ohio.
· Berea Animal Rescue Friends, a no-time-limit animal rescue shelter.
· Maryssa's Mission Foundation, which works to change and positively impact the lives of families facing the challenges of caring for a medically fragile child.
“It feels good,” Lockyer said. “All of this is (Executive Board)-approved and membership-approved. They have the final say. And we publish it in our bi-monthly newsletter so that our members know where these (gaming proceeds) are going.”
- Community