BUDA — Several groups in the city of Buda that were founded to help and provide resources to veterans are in search of a new building, as they have essentially been homeless for approximately a year.
Amy Hinson is the senior vice commander of the Buda VFW Post 12161 and treasurer for both the Buda American Legion Post 213 and the American Legion Riders Chapter 213. She shared that the building that all of the Buda veteran groups, which also includes the newly-founded Nu Day Warriors, once “lived in” was located at 100 Houston St. in Buda, but that has since changed, as the facility is in bad condition and basically condemned.
“It was directly across the railroad tracks from Brooklyn's [Down South] restaurant. It used to be the old police station. Even before then, it was a lumber yard. It has just deteriorated. The building’s unsafe, roofs are caving in [and] the floors are coming down. It just needs a lot of work,” she explained.
“[The city is] really looking for someone who has money that can go in and fix it, which is not us. So, we ended up turning over the building [to the city] almost exactly a year ago, February of last year,” Hinson continued. “And so, since then, we were once shared with AMVETS — which AMVETS has moved to Kyle — the American Legion, the American Legion Riders, both from Buda, and the VFW from Buda. And so, currently, those three organizations are completely homeless. In August of this past year, 2024, a new organization, a new nonprofit for veterans, was formed, called [Nu Day] Warriors and they are in the same boat we are.”
All of the veteran nonprofits are looking for a home, agreeing that if they are able to find a building big enough to house all of them, they would share that; however, they are also looking independently if that is not possible.
“Everybody's trying to find a place that we can call home, where we can try and grow. Because we're all relatively new in the sense of being in Buda and now being homeless after going through COVID[-19], there were so many years and so many blocks,” Hinson explained. “Now, we're all ready to try and say, ‘Hey, you know, we need to build up. We need a home. We need to show people that we're here and that we're here for Buda.’”
When the groups were at 100 Houston St., they were able to act as a physical resource for veterans to drop in and find someone to help them with whatever they needed: “It's our way of helping guide veterans down whatever paths they need to take in order to get the steps they need done," she said. "We don't have an open, easy outsource for people. They have to basically get online and look us up individually now and a lot of the older people, especially, they don't get online to do much. A lot of people we had coming in were older people whose spouses had died or who never had gotten VA benefits. Now, things are going crazy and they're being told that they can get them, they just don't know how to do it.”
Along with being able to be that helpful resource for veterans at a physical location, the original building also acted as a space to host events, including fundraisers, Girl Scout meetings and sewing group get-togethers. However, Hinson said now being forced to use city hall to hold their meetings, the veteran groups are left not having their own individual space.
According to Hinson, the groups are looking for a place that has: a big hall to host meetings; individual office spaces; bathrooms; a gathering place outside like a pavilion; and plenty of parking.
“If we could get a minimum of an acre, that would be amazing. It'd be even more amazing if we could get more than that. But just space where we’ve got room for the parking [and] we've got room for something that we can provide for the community if they need to do events and that's another way to help us pay for the the electricity and the utilities is being able to rent out the hall when none of us need it,” she said. “Actually, the American Legion … they're in the process of being approved for their bingo license and once we get a home, we plan on bringing bingo to Buda and so, that's one of our like really exciting things that we're almost at the end of getting our license. We don't have a place to do it, so it's kind of a bummer.”
For those who have a space, or the potential for a space, that the Buda veteran groups could use can contact Hinson at 512-423-3454 or [email protected].
To find information on the specific veteran groups in Buda, visit:
• Buda VFW Post 12161: www.buda-vfw.org
• Buda American Legion Post 213: www.alpost213.org
• American Legion Riders Charter 213: www.facebook.com/groups/chapter213
• Nu Day Warriors: www.nudaywarriors.com
