Swift Current Legion receives federal pandemic funding
A $15,605 lifeline from the federal government was a welcome boost for the Swift Current Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion.
On January 14 representatives from the local Legion met with Cypress Hills-grasslands MP Jeremy Patzer to unveil the federal funding which is part of the federal government’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan.
The Royal Canadian Legion received $14 million from the federal government back on December 21, with the funds to be distributed by the Legion to branches across Canada. The dollars were part of the $20 million Veterans Organizations Emergency Support Fund which was announced back in November.
“It’s something that’s been called for for a very long time as there were a lot of Legions that have already closed in Canada and were facing hardships even before the pandemic set in. So naturally it just made sense that there should be some funding for the Legions to help them weather the storm here because we know how important they are to our communities, to our veterans and to the families of our veterans as well. So its important that the Legions be supported this way,” Patzer noted while announcing the funding.
Nationally, the Royal Canadian Legion was able to deliver funding to over half of the 1380 branches situated across the country. Just over $7.2 million was distributed by the Legion’s National Headquarters to 701 branches that applied for supports through Veterans Affairs Canada. Additional funds were scheduled to be dispersed during the early part of 2021, and there will be an additional opportunity for Legions to apply for the remaining funds if they were unable to make the first funding application deadline.
“I’m grateful that the federal government has finally decided to provide funding for our Legions.
It’s important that a facility like this can stay open, that this funding will help keep the lights on and keep the doors open. Because we know that Legions are more than just Remembrance Day, it’s more than just a Poppy Campaign, it has a much broader impact than that,” Patzer added.
The funding was gratefully accepted as the Legion was significantly impacted by the pandemic, “Pretty well all of our fundraising activities either were shutdown or shutdown for a time,” Branch #56 Past President Jim Pratt said while accepting the funding.
A series of regularly scheduled events such as their weekly bingo, cribbage tournaments, and Tuesday dinners were all cancelled during 2020, which took away a portion of their revenues.
“Our income for most of the time of the pandemic was virtually nil. We had no hall rentals, that was another fairly major cut in our income. So it impacted us for sure.”
Pratt explained that their annual expenses include utilities, insurance and wages, but their main priority remains veteran services and service to the community. The $15,605 in funding they received will be directed towards operating costs, including insurance, wages, other expenses.
“The funding that we received from the federal government will offset some of the funding that we normally would have had to use for those purposes. So it means a lot to us from that regard.”
Pratt admitted that Swift Current’s Legion fared better than many others across the country did.
“But I think on the other hand we were pretty fortunate in that we were able to see our way through without laying off any staff, we were able to maintain our staff and they did some deep cleaning here in the facility. And we weathered through it. Probably we came out of it a lot better than many other Legion branches will.”