Legion Week promoted activities of local branch

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

National Legion Week, which took place Sept. 17-23, marked an opportunity to educate communities regarding the efforts and activities of their local legion branch. 

In Strathmore, the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 10 welcomed the time of year, though took it effectively as business as usual. 

Donovan Arnaud, president of the Legion Branch 10, said the Legion is pretty busy on any given week hosting and contributing to activities around town, but was excited for the opportunity for people to be more aware of their presence. 

“All it really is, is a callout to people to invite them to link up with their local legion … it is often a callout to a lot of the members of the legion who for one reason or another have not … frequented their local legion, wherever they live,” he said. “It is a callout to people in various communities across the country where their legion branches are hopefully active in their various communities, because the legion’s role, first and foremost, is to promote remembrance of the fallen – those who have sacrificed their lives for our country.”

Another important function of the legion is to support the veterans and the families of those who have served in the Canadian Forces.

Work and involvement by the legion in the community includes sponsoring sports for kids, programs for the elderly, social activities for the general public, and working in cooperation with a myriad of other communities and organizations. The legion maintains a goal to promote citizenship and healthy community living.

“Legion Week is an attempt to focus on the legions and the various communities and to help people or remind people that we exist and we are here for them in various capacities,” said Arnaud. “Our normal week is pretty busy already. We offer a variety of things like bingo for the so inclined and various social events that are typically done at our branch every week (such as) karaoke, sing alongs, dances, parties, all kinds of things for the community.”

The legion, he said, is first and foremost a services club, and offers service to the surrounding community. Throughout Legion Week, Arnaud said he was happy to see that promoted, and people were invited to both check out events, as well as to potentially join the legion. 

“We are not really doing much of anything specific for Legion Week. Our Legion Week is a typical week and that is basically what we are doing. We put a focus on inviting people who perhaps are not aware of the legion and the kinds of things that we do.”

Coming into November, the legion will be putting an emphasis on education to students through remembrance week about the fallen, service to the country, and passing the torch from one generation to the next.