President’s Message for May 2025

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE FOR MAY 2025

Hello members!! As spring warms up, I write my last message to you as the President. I’m sure Comrade Mike Adams, your new President, will continue to keep you informed through quarterly messages.

As I look back over the past 3 years, I’m amazed at how much we accomplished. It was very much an uphill battle, and it’s finally looking like we are evening out now. We’ve made a lot of changes, and I realize that change is really hard to accept for most people. Please rest assured that everything we did was with the Branch and our Members in mind.

As always, please send an email if you have questions, or suggestions, or if there is something you want addressed in this message. Mike will be happy to address them! (sorry, Mike!) RCL632OrleansPresident@gmail.com.

Elections are over, and the new team is getting ready to take the helm. There’s a great mix of people who stayed and new people who stepped up, which will ensure continuity of the work that was done. New faces also mean new ideas, which are critical to the continued growth of the Branch.

BRANCH HAPPENINGS

The Entertainment at the Branch continues to draw in the crowds!! St Patrick’s Day saw our upper hall filled to capacity, and it was a sea of green everywhere!! We had another hugely successful line dancing night where we had to ask attendees to pre-register because we were at our fire-code limit! Another sold-out paint night shows just how popular this event is. Moving some of the larger events downstairs on Fridays is working well, so that will be continuing.

The Branch marked the Battle of the Atlantic and the 80th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Netherlands on Sunday 4, May 2025. It was a meaningful ceremony held at the cenotaph. Thank you to Comrade Mike Adams and his team for organizing this event.

Our annual Honours and Awards Ceremony was also held on Sunday, 4 May 2025. It was my honour to recognize Comrade Lucie Goderre as the Legionnaire of the Year. There were several Certificates of Merit and Certificates of Appreciation presented as well as pins marking significant milestones of years as a member, and medals presented to those who have served on the Executive in various roles. I would like to thank Comrades Marty Keates, Blaine Kiley, and Jean Beck for their work on sorting through all the nominations and organizing this event.

The Military Service Recognition Book is in its 12th edition!!! This book is for ANY Veteran anywhere in Canada who wishes to have their service recorded. ON Comd publishes the book and uses the revenue from the advertisers to support Veteran programs in the Province. If you or a Veteran you know has not yet submitted a photo and a short bio (max 200 words), please contact Mike Adams (RCL632Orleans3rdVice@gmail.com) to get your submission in. You do NOT have to be a member of the Legion to be recognized in the book!!!

I just returned from the Provincial Convention in London, where we elected at the Provincial level:

President, Comrade Lynn McClellan,

1st Vice, Comrade Crystal Cook,

Vice Presidents: Comrades Dean Weir, Jack Gimmel, and Rick Preston,

Treasurer: Comrade Sharleen Sissons

Provincial Chair: Comrade Ron Goebel, and

Provincial Vice-Chair: Comrade Ron Crown.

We have finally been able to get the ball rolling on the refurbishment of our Platform Lift. We have secured 80% of the funding through the Poppy Fund, Charitable Gaming (Lola Bingo), sponsorships, and donations. Thank you to Comrade Richard Guitar, who has been leading this effort and doing the vast majority of the legwork. He will continue to oversee the project as it moves forward. Expect to have a bit of a disruption at some point this summer when we have to close down the lift for a few weeks to do the actual work. We will move all operations downstairs during that time so that we don’t stop providing the service you have been used to.

Our Fundraising Chair has launched the Sponsorship and Donor Program (SDP) with the ambitious goal of raising $500,000.00 over the next 4 years for our Building Maintenance Fund. These funds will be used to address major infrastructure repairs and replacements so that our building remains viable into the future. You can read all about how you can help on the website: https://rcl632.ca/donate/?fb-edit=1. Thank you to Comrade Lucie Lafleur for her diligence to making this SDP a reality!

VOLUNTEER CORNER

Volunteers needed:

The Legion runs because of our volunteers who do the work. If we don’t have new people stepping up to help, we will struggle to operate the way the Provincial By-laws for Branches mandate. We are very aware of the demands on your time and try to make it as pleasant as possible for everyone on the team. We hope you will consider joining us! Below are the most urgent places we need help.

➔ FUNDRAISING/SPECIAL EVENTS COMMITTEE Our new Fundraising & Special Events Chair has been hard at work planning some fundraising events for our Building Maintenance Fund. She really needs help to accomplish this. This is the perfect opportunity for people who like to plan events and raise funds while having a great time! Please consider helping us by joining this team!! Time commitment varies depending on what event or function you choose to help with. The more people who join this team, the less work for everyone!

➔ ENTERTAINMENT COMMITTEE We are still looking for people to join the Entertainment Committee. Our Entertainment Chair has a LOT of energy, but can’t do it all herself. This committee will work collaboratively with the Fundraising Committee, so you could be on both if you were so inclined!!

➔ SENIORS & VETERANS 65+ The Chair of this portfolio could really use a small team! If you are interested in helping to organize visits to Retirement Homes in the Orleans area to visit Veterans, helping to organize the Over-80 Christmas Lunch, helping with events for our Veterans at the Perley, and other related activities, please let us know! Time commitment varies, with the bulk of it being in the fall months.

➔ GENERAL COMMITTEE MEMBERS There are a number of Committee Chairs who have been managing their portfolios for several years, and would like to pass the torch on to others. We need new volunteers who are willing to team up with these Chairs to learn the jobs with the goal of taking over the portfolios. The time commitment varies with each Portfolio from 2-5 hours each month.