July 2021 President’s Report

Another Summer month is now in the record books. Your Executive and staff have been busy gearing up for a busy fall. The District Sport Schedule is ready and we will post it on our website, Legion17.org. If you are interested in entering any of these sports please let Kim Bohnet know and he will let you know the rules and help you enter. The Schooner’s Pub Pool schedule is ready to go as is the Legion Dart League. Trivia Night is in full swing and everyone who attends has a great time. Thanks again to Steve and Sandra for running this event.

This Saturday, August 7th , we will feature the 55+ Senior Games Pool tournament in both Schooners and the Legion. A highlight of the day will be Roy Gale playing an exhibition game. Come on down and watch some great pool by Alberta athletes. Roy’s game is scheduled for after lunch put you can call 403-527-7184 ext 2, to get all the details.

The Virtual Royal Canadian Legion Dominion Convention will August 13-15. Lola and Jack Bennett, Roger Beebe and I will be attending “virtually” via our computers. Should be fun. Conventions are held to elect the new Dominion Executive, provide new information to those attending and to vote on any changes to the Dominion By-Laws. We will each be writing up a report after the Convention and will share the highlights on our Legion website.

The Workshops this year are 1. Communication 2. Homeless Veterans, 3. Membership:What’s New? 4. Member Rewards.

Holly and I have just placed an order with the Government for PPE. Our Legion and Schooners pub will continue to sanitize all surfaces, require use of hand sanitizer by members and staff and provide masks for those who would like to wear one. We are also recommending that if you do not feel well, please stay home. We are on the homestretch in winning the battle against Covid and cannot let our guard down prematurely.

Poppy Campaign is just around the corner. If you are interested in helping in any way, please give us your name. We will need people to help with the routes and to sit at the tables. We will also need judges for the Poster and Essay contest. Please call or email the office to let us know you would like to help. The middle of August we will be doing an inventory and ordering our Poppy supplies. Our bar staff have agreed to count the loose poppies from last year and put them in paper and plastic bags. Thanks girls.

We are still looking for Volunteers to help organize our Grand RE-Opening of the Legion on Friday August 27. The Barbecue will be held from 2:30-4:45 with both hot dogs and hamburgers being served for a minimal cost. We will be barbecuing outside on our grill. We are also planning specials for drinks and a dinner special. The Meat Raffle and Chase the President will begin at the usual time of 5:00pm.

Just to keep you up to date, the Poppy Fund has been donating $275.00 per week to the Salvation Army Hot Meal Program and $300 per month to the Saturday Hot Meal Program. We were able to determine that Veterans were accessing both meal programs, therefore they met the criteria as set out in the Poppy Manual.

The Poppy Committee and the Executive have voted in favour of donating $5000 (the same as last year) to each of the three cadet Corps even though they did not, because of COVID, help with the Poppy Campaign. Last November the Cadets were not allowed to meet and were prevented from helping at the Poppy Tables by rules from Ottawa. Let’s hope our Remembrance Day Program at the Esplanade and November 11th at the Cenotaph are back to what we were used to in the past. Last year we were limited to 100 in attendance and no cadets in attendance. Hopefully this year our cadets can once again help with the Campaign and our November 11th Ceremonies.

We have a had a few service clubs requesting meeting space and so far, we have been able to accommodate them all. The Line Dancers and starting back up and the Thursday Night Senior Music Dine and Dance. Call the Office or Linda Crawford for more information.

We applied for the 2nd Alberta Re-Launch grant and have been approved but are waiting for the money to be deposited in the bank. Slowly but surely Schooners is coming back, and we are seeing an increase in revenue.

Once again, a big thank you to the Executive, to Holly and Judy and all the rest of the staff for all they do to move our Legion forward. To the members, thank you for your patience during this difficult time but the good news is we have almost made it to the finish line, and we are still open with money in the bank, not a lot but enough to pay the bills and keep Judy, our bookkeeper, happy.

Onward and upward as we move closer to our opening in September. Keep safe.

Sheila Donner,

President