Issue 8/03 – 23 July 2003
Legion supports morale programs for CF members
The Royal Canadian Legion and its more than 450 000
members have a long history—more than 75 years—of supporting
Canadian military personnel.
Legion programs developed during the Second World
War included reading rooms, show tours, educational services, and
wet and dry canteens, all available to Canadian sailors, aircrew
and soldiers both at home and overseas.
“Our main support to troops from then until
1996,” says Pat Varga, the Legion's Public Relations
Committee Chair at Dominion Command in Ottawa, “was the supply
of reading material from a central book depot.”
Today, with the CF undergoing changes in infrastructure
and the CF Personnel Support Agency (CFPSA) assuming responsibility
for delivery of support, the Legion has once again stepped in to
help.
Since 2000, the Legion has been providing funds to
CFPSA to support CF sports championships and awards events, show
tours, and Operation Santa Claus. The Legion also supports the remembrance
activities of the Nijmegen March Teams that deploy to the Netherlands
each year.
“These funding efforts are supported by Legion
members' fees,” Mrs. Varga says. “They are not
funded from monies collected during the poppy campaign.
“Operation Santa Claus is a great program for
everyone involved,” she adds. “Each deployed CF member
gets a gift from the Legion at Christmas. We want CF members to
know that we care about them and about what they're doing.”
The Legion's Membership Committee also invests
in the CF, spending “about $12 000 a year advertising in base
newspapers so that CF members can see that we support them,”
says Legion Membership Chair Wilf Edmond. “We are involved
because Legion members want us to ensure that CF personnel are cared
for in whatever circumstances they may find themselves. But we need
them to help as well.”
Many changes to veterans' legislation that
were initiated by the Legion, such as CF members' eligibility
for a disability pension while still serving in the CF, relate directly
to today's personnel. In turn, CF members can join a Legion
branch or as a member-at-large. By doing so, you support the programs
that supported your predecessors, and support you now.
“We will put whatever we have into systems
that will ensure the maintenance of CF members' morale when
they're deployed, and the care they may need when they return,”
says Mrs. Varga. “They give for our freedom and way of life.
They should expect and receive no less from us.”
Visit www.legion.ca
for more information.
Today's
Royal Canadian Legion:
 •
funds sports championships, annual sports awards events,
show tours, and Operation Santa Claus;
• offers a national
network of professional pension advocates to assist CF members and
veterans with pension claims and benevolent fund grants;
• promotes remembrance
of Canadians who have served their country in times of war and in
peacekeeping operations;
• provides members
to speak to school children and other groups about the proud history
of the Canadian profession of arms;
• supports cadets;
• sponsors youth
hockey, baseball, track and field, and other teams Canada-wide;
and
• supports housing
projects, Meals on Wheels, and other programs for seniors.
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