Members of the Bradford Legion and President, Tammy Paglia were relieved on Wednesday morning after receiving $10K from the Veterans Organizations Emergency Relief Fund.
The emergency funds come at a critical time when the Legion has depleted much of its resources over the last nine months to stay afloat during the Covid-19 pandemic. Without any ability to host fundraisers, banquets, weddings, or events of any kind at the Legion (which was their primary source of income), savings were quickly used up and left very little means to continue day-to-day operations.
MP Scot Davison of York-Simcoe joined Paglia and the Legion’s members outside the branch to deliver the news in person.
“This is a $10,000 emergency funding that is going to help Legions - they are the backbones of small-town Canada and right now there’s a lot of Legions struggling," shares MP Davidson, adding that there are around 35 Legions across the province that have shut down already. “This is something we fought for… the $10K will help pay for building maintenance, snow clearing, insurance, heat… but most importantly it will keep a place to honour our veterans… it’s a lifeline for Legions to carry on."
Paglia agreed with Davidson, expressing “it’s been a hard year."
“We started depleting our bank account, so this money comes in at the right time," shares Paglia.
Davidson states they originally asked for 30 million dollars, but only 14 million dollars was awarded to Legions across Canada.
“This should have been done earlier, Legions are so important!” expresses Davidson. “Our soldiers and vets have given us so much; we’re truly not asking for a lot of money. It’s a small price to pay for freedom and a place to honour our vets… it’s so important to the community."
Paglia disclosed that the Legion currently sits at around a $20K loss in the last eight months, stemming mostly from a lack of events allowed at the Legion due to social distancing regulations.
“It’s a lot of money, you can’t make that back,” laments Paglia.
“And the poppy fund cannot support the Legion itself,” added Anne Silvey, poppy chair for the BWG Legion. “The poppy fund is strictly for veterans and youth programs – that’s it!”
Due to the current lockdown, the Legion has been unable to continue its Friday community meals and as such, had a surplus of carrots, potatoes, and onions from the Holland Marsh Grower’s Association which Davidson delivered to the Helping Hand Food Bank after making his announcement.
“We are very grateful for this financial assistance from the Canadian government and to MP Scot Davidson for his support,” said Paglia in an earlier statement to Davidson’s office. “It will ease the financial stress and enable us to ride out the second wave of this pandemic. Our main focus is to ensure we can continue to serve our veterans, members, and community."
