If you’ve ever wondered what the Legion was all about, Saturday was the third annual open house for the Royal Canadian Legion Branch #4 in Lethbridge.
Members of the board were on hand to answer any questions and discuss membership opportunities.
“A lot people think it’s just for military, but it’s not — it’s for everybody,” president Kent Perry said.
In fact, gaining membership is currently one of the biggest challenges the Legion faces.
Perry says many don’t know that anyone over the age of 18 is welcome to join.
“We have a lot of activities, a lot of sports, pool, darts, crib, euchre and shuffle board,” Perry said. “The Legion also supports track-and-field on a national level, so there’s lots going on but I’ve always said to new members, ‘If you really want to understand the Legion, you need to get involved.'”
But it’s not all fun and games. The Legion offers support for veterans and advocates on their behalf.
“Post-traumatic stress disorder — we are getting involved more and more with that,” Perry said. “We had talked about supplying dogs to our veterans who need that and they’re not cheap — it runs about $10,000 for a dog so we’re still looking at that which is my understanding.”
The Poppy Campaign that runs every November is one way the Legion raises funds to help veterans.
“It’s used to support veterans, maybe they need a brace or whatever,” first vice-president Michael Cormican said. “We also support hospitals. We have made rather large contributions to both the regional hospital and the Raymond hospital on behalf of our veterans.”
But Perry says the money raised from the campaign actually goes into a poppy trust and doesn’t belong to the Legion, but rather they are the keepers of it.
“The Poppy Fund is really good but we’d also like people to donate to the Legion because we’re not a charity. The Legion is not a charity — the only charity part is poppy,” he said. “Of course, we can’t write receipts so that’s kind of our downfall there but we accept donations on behalf of the Legion and on behalf of poppy.”
Another way the Legion raises money is through membership fees.
“We have a yearly membership fee — at our branch it’s $50 — other branches, they have their own fee schedule,” Perry said. “We also had a Ladies Auxiliary, an arm of the Legion. Of course, it’s all for ladies and they support the main branch.”
For those interested in getting involved, Cormican says you can come into the branch and fill out an application.
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