December President’s Report

Robertson Memorial Br No 17 has been very busy this month catering Christmas Parties as well as our regular activities such as our Friday meat raffles and Chase the President. On Friday December 6 the Chase the President was won and the lucky winner claimed $5494.00.Also, the Early-Bird Draw for a 2021 free membership was won by Tom Esler. On December 20 we drew for a 58 inch television and Lisa Green was the lucky winner. Thanks to everyone for attending these events and supporting our Legion activities and fundraisers. We look forward to seeing you at Legion events in the New Year and to your continued support for the Legion.

The Annual Kids’ Christmas held on December 15 was a great success due to the assistance of Lola Bennet, and her helpers Lynn and Yvonne. We had a great turn out and the children and parents had fun creating Christmas crafts and meeting Santa Claus. Thank you to Diane and Amanda for preparing the delicious lunch.

The foams around the dart boards and the carpeting in front of them has been replaced and the funding will be provided by the Senior Citizens Advisory Board. I thank them in advance for this grant that helps us to replace the worn out carpeting and foam surrounds.

Thursday October 28th I had the privilege of presenting the $100 award for Social Studies at Hat High. On Dec 1 I had the pleasure of representing our Legion at a CFB Suffield Base Commander Christmas Social. I also received a Christmas card from BATUS complementing the Legion for the November 11th Service. Congrats to all the committee for a job well done.

Please note when the Legion will be closed over the holidays. The times are posted on the front door or call the Office or check the website at legion17.org. On Dec 31 Robertson Memorial will once again be hosting British New Year from 2-7PM. This should be a fun time for all. No admittance charge, nibblies on the table and if you are hungry you can order off the menu.

Just a reminder to all groups, if you are planning to hold a meeting in the Legion you must check to see availability and get permission from the Office. Please show the Legion the courtesy of checking with the office before making your plans to hold a meeting in the Legion.

More volunteers are needed for all committees, especially Lotteries. Please sign up.

The Literary Poster Contest has been judged and the winning entries have been sent to district for judging at the district level. A big thank you is extended to Rose Witts and Lola Bennett for their assistance in the judging. We had over three hundred entries.

Robertson Memorial has had a busy, productive year. Our success is due to our hard working staff, the girls in the Office, our kitchen staff and our bar staff. These girls work hard every day

to assist our patrons and our members and to move our Legion forward. On behalf of the members and Executive thank you all for everything you do each day.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the awesome efforts of Lucille Bailey and her Bingo volunteers. Thank you for all the time you spend volunteering to work the bingos as this fundraiser definitely helps the Legion move forward financially.

Thank you as well for all that the Executive and volunteers do throughout the year to help our Legion in both small tasks and those that require weeks of preparation. Without your outstanding efforts it would not be possible to have experienced such a successful, positive year.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and health and happiness in the year ahead.

New Executive

President: Sheila Donner

1st Vice President: Jack Bennett

2nd Vice President: Gary Wilson

Executive:

Gerry Beebe

Roger Beebe

Lola Bennett

Kim Bohnet

Padre Ron MacDonald

Respectfully submitted,

Sheila Donner

January President’s Report

Happy 95th Anniversary to Robertson Memorial Branch #17. A new year has begun and both the Legion and the Pub remain closed to members and the public due to the Pandemic. Holly and Judy and your Executive have been busy behind the scenes trying move the Legion forward financially and cleaning up and repairing what we can to make the Legion better when we due reopen. As you know the Office is open and you are able to renew your membership by appointment. We also have the red Legion face masks for sale by appointment if you call or email first. So far this has proved very effective. Just a reminder that we are still providing Poppy Services on request. Just call the Office. Although funerals are limited to 10, the Legion members providing the Poppy Service can be part of the 10.

Over the years a lot of “junk” had accumulated making some of our store rooms cluttered and unsafe. We have had the help of Trevor Mossing, Amanda Ward and of course Holly. Roger has been a great help as well. We owe this group a big thank you. Their thoroughness has enabled us to fix a few “little things” before they became “big expensive things”. Hats off to them.

This “clean-up” has been part of an ongoing project and much of it safely taken care of. No historical artifacts or pictures or anything of that nature was thrown out. Roger Beebe our Archivist has put all the historical documents aside and we plan to go through them all. You can rest assured that your Legion is going to really impress you when you return for our Grand Reopening, hopefully in the not too distant future.

Judy and I have been busy applying for the Re-Launch Provincial grant and the wage subsidies every month. We have not received the Re-launch grant but the wage subsidies are sure helping. We are also trying to raise money to pay the bills with a new concept called Rafflebox. The winner, if we sell all the tickets by March 8th, would receive their share of the 50/50. If this happens on March 15, 2021, one lucky person will win $10,000. We need your help and all your friends to help us meet this goal. We are unable to make any money because we are closed. The Legion must be here for our Veterans, their families and our members. Go to: https://rafflebox.ca/raffle/rcl17

Gerry Beebe continues to work very hard on membership. Even during this pandemic we have people joining our Legion and members are either sending in their membership dues or making an appointment to come into the office.

This is very different report from last year when we were booming along in both the Legion and in the Pub. But in Mid-March we had to cancel everything. We opened for a short time but then we had to close down again. Let us all hope that this Pandemic is soon behind us and that we can get back to some kind of normal and see our friends again.

Keep safe and hopefully we will get through this sooner than later.

Respectfully,

Sheila Donner