POTTSTOWN PA – The Pottstown Cluster of Religious Communities, a local charitable fixture dedicated since 1967 to help individuals in need, has purchased the George A. Amole American Legion Post building, 57 N. Franklin St., Pottstown PA, with an eye on expanding its programs and services.

The American Legion Building at 57 N. Franklin St., Pottstown, bought last month by the Pottstown Cluster of Religious Communities.

The cluster, which has long been an organization favored by volunteers and donations from businesses in Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township and the Pottsgrove School District, closed on the building’s sale Jan. 28, according to Montgomery County property records. It may take several months, however, before the organization could be ready to move, Executive Director Barbara Wilhelmy said.

Outstanding zoning issues have yet to be approved by borough officials, and building repairs must be tackled. If those hurdles are successfully cleared, the new location would double space now available to the cluster’s current operations at 137 Walnut St., Pottstown PA, and would give it more flexibility in how space is used.

“We’re happy, after almost 20 years of searching for a new location, that this building represents the best opportunity for us,” Wilhelmy said.

The purchase comes at a critical time for the cluster, too. Its services – ranging from an emergency food pantry and community meals program to a support and referral system for the needy – are increasingly in demand as more local residents cope with recession-induced financial setbacks.

“We’ve definitely seen an increase in people coming to us, especially those who have never had to use our services before,” Wilhelmy acknowledged. “Our goal, though, is not to be just a place where people come and get things from us. We want to help them with better planning, and to show them how to better use resources” available locally. “We want to give them the opportunity to be more self-sufficient.”

The cluster is a coalition of more than 50 different churches and religious groups from across western Montgomery County and adjacent areas, and is managed by a board of directors. It was formed 43 years ago, by what was then the Pottstown Ministerial Association, to provide community services that were either being handled by individual churches or which didn’t exist at all.

The cluster’s programs, particularly its food pantry and meals service, are a favorite charity locally.

• When Pottsgrove School District students wanted to share their Thanksgiving with others last November, they made sandwiches to be distributed to the cluster’s meal patrons.
• Last October, when area residents of all faiths set out to collect money in the annual CROP Walk Against Hunger, the cluster’s Community Meals Program was its beneficiary.
• And when employees of Lower Pottsgrove PA-based Diamond Credit Union volunteer their services during the annual United Way Day of Caring, the cluster has benefited from their manpower.

Continuing that spirit of collaboration is a primary aim in the cluster’s physical expansion, Wilhelmy notes. “We’re looking to work with services and programs already in place,” and help people find and use them more easily, she said. The former Legion post’s almost 12,000 square feet of room lends itself to all kinds of possibilities, and also heightens the cluster’s visibility.

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