the bugler - westboro legion · 3 megan keon notre dame junior 1 elisheva simes torah academy 2...

389 – 391 Richmond Road, Ottawa, ON K2A 0E7 / Office (613) 725-3475 / Lounge (613) 725- 2778 / Fax (613) 725-1311

THE BUGLER

THE ROYAL CANADIAN LEGION BRANCH 480 NEWSLETTER

January - February 2012 EDITION

E-mail [email protected] for your electronic copy today!

THIS ISSUE

President’s Corner Page 3 Branch Meetings Page 5 Adoptions Needed Page 6 Euchre Tournament Page 7 Poppy News Page 8 Youth Education Page 9 Mailing List 1 Parliament Hill Project Page 12 Westfest 2012 Page 12 Why People Join the Royal Canadian Legion

Page 14

West Jet Page 17 Branch Website Page 17 Knitting Project 2011 Page 18 Entertainment Page 19 Niagara Falls Trip Page 20

mailto:[email protected]


BRANCH 480

EXECUTIVE

WESTBORO 2011 / 2012

Executive Officers Ladies Auxiliary Executive President David Lewis President Marion Blair Past President Al Leafloor 1st Vice President Jackie Albert 1st Vice-President Doug Cody 2nd Vice President Julia Collier 2nd Vice-President Read Brook Secretary Kathleen Nelson Secretary Treasurer Jackie Albert Treasurer Sergeant-at-Arms Diane Foubert Chairman Honours & Awards Emily Pelletier Sergeant at Arms Keith Brown Hospital Visiting Julia Collier Office Accountant Earl Stutt Sports Officer Tammy Tracy Telephone Committee (1) Noella Wilkinson Branch Committee Chairs Telephone Committee (2) Annette Hoy Bar Operations/Bingo Liaison Viana McCloskey Ways & Means / Asst. Giselle Simard Ways & Means Betty Albert /Doreen Rock Cadet Liaison Orrin Kerr Special Events Constitution & By-Laws Brent Craig Catering Bonnie Legroulx Training & Org. Dev. Brent Craig Donations Doug Cody Newsletter Leslie Durocher Youth Education Doug Cody Entertainment Janet Richard Honours & Awards Hospital & Veterans Visiting LA Liaison Judy Pinard Membership/Phone Comm. Viana McCloskey Parade Commander Orrin Kerr Poppy & Bursary Doug Cody Property Special Events Sports Louise Schryer-Dafoe Track & Field Doug Cody Service Office Liaison Viana McCloskey Public Relations David Lewis Parade & Service Co-ordinator David Lewis Web Site David Lewis


PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

I will simply start off my first message as saying Happy New Year! I hope that you all

had a very happy and enjoyable holiday. I must admit the Christmas season is nice and

relaxing compared to the busy few months we have had here at the branch. Would you

believe that myself and the Executive have already completed 7 months of this term in

office? That means elections are just around the corner so you may want to start

considering taking a run for office. Anyway I am proud to say that I have been very

busy working for you and the branch and have accomplished a lot so far. Here are just

a few of the things that I have been proud to be part of:

1. I was appointed as the Zone G5 Membership Chairman

2. The design and creation of our new portable cenotaph

3. Planning of our Battle of Britain and Remembrance Day parades/services

4. Planning of one of our best Remembrance Dinners in years

5. Dinner to recognize MSM, Life and 40+ year members

6. Veterans Dinner

7. Awarded the MSM to Comrade Bob Cook

8. Another great year with our Westfest breakfast and Support Our Troops booth

9. PRVHC Bingo and Pub Nights

10. Annual Halloween Party

11. New windows on the 2nd floor of our building

12. New heating and air conditioning units for both floors

13. New compressor for the bar fridge

14. New lighting throughout the whole building

15. A service plan is in place for regular maintenance of our new heating/air

conditioning units as well as the hot water heater, furnace in the basement and bar

fridge

16. Deep thorough shampoo and steam clean of the carpets from top to bottom

And much more ...


In fact, one of my proudest accomplishments is the latest renovation to our main floor

hall entrance. We now have an accessible entrance to make things much easier for all

especially wheelchairs and walkers. The new entrance has an automatic door with a

ramp leading up to it. There is a small step to stand on with a handrail and of course

the door itself is wider.

Before closing, I would like to take this opportunity to thank some very special people.

On behalf of all the members and guests of Westboro Branch 480, I wish to extend a

sincere Thank You to Marion Blair, President of the Westboro Ladies Auxiliary and of

course each and every one of the members of the Ladies Auxiliary. The ladies truly do

not receive the recognition that they deserve for their outstanding dedication and hard

work towards the branch and the community. We now have a great relationship which

seems to grow day by day. The ladies have provided the branch with several financial

donations, catering and serving at dinners, volunteers at all our events, Poppy

campaign volunteers, help with decorating, cleaning and more! All of us at the branch

look forward to working together for many years to come. Thank You Ladies!

We now have many more things ahead to make things better for the branch. Together

with myself and the Executive team we will continue to work hard to bring many more

activities and events for your enjoyment. Once again, it has truly been an honour and

privilege to serve as your President. Thank you for continuing to support me, the

Executive and the Westboro branch of The Royal Canadian Legion.

David Lewis President


BRANCH MEETINGS

Don’t forget an important part of being a member of The Legion is to attend general

meetings. Our general meetings are held on the third Tuesday of each month at

7:30pm. Please attend and Have your say!

What happens if I don’t attend a meeting? Well, first of all, you will not be informed of

proposed policies and events going on in and around the branch. If you don’t like the

way something is being done or even a new proposal, attendance at a meeting is your

chance to question it, approve it or decline it. Yes, that’s right … as a member of the

branch you have the opportunity to approve or turn down any recommendation from

the Executive. You can also use this time to propose an idea of your own.

Most importantly, there is often serious business conducted at a meeting. For example

in March we accept nominations for the Executive Committee, in April we have our

elections. Nearly every month, we have new people wishing to join or transfer to our

branch – this cannot be done without the approval from the members at a general

meeting. Another example is our charitable donations. There are many needy causes

who need our help and we are unable to provide donations to them without general

meeting approval. As you can tell, we really NEED your help – it is only once a month!

As previously mentioned, we hear your concerns and one of them I have heard is that

you don’t like going to a meeting because it finishes too late. Well there are possible

changes coming soon to our meeting formats – please come to the meetings and watch

the boards for more info.

David Lewis

President


ADOPTIONS NEEDED

How would you like to help out your branch in this new year? As you are aware, we

have been making many improvements to the branch to benefit both our members and

guests alike. Now we would like to replace the aging tables in our downstairs hall. We

need 40 six foot tables and 5-10 4 foot tables. This is how you can help….Usually we

make a donation to the general funds and not know where it goes. Now you can help

by adopting a 6 foot table for $50! You can even adopt more than one if you like! If

interested, please make a donation at the bar but be sure to mention that it is for the

Adoption of a Table. Thanks again for your support!

David Lewis

President


POPPY NEWS

The final figure for the 2011 Poppy Campaign is $55,138.31.

This amount is as the result of the work of our 150+ volunteers and our 3 Cadet Corps. Thank

you to all who helped out this year.

We held our Poppy Volunteer Breakfast on Saturday 03 December with over 70 people in

attendance. A big thank you to Comrade Rick Fortin who cooked the breakfast for us. A

number of suggestions were made to me which we will be looking at to help our next year’s

campaign.

One project that has been made possible by the monies from the Ottawa Poppy Fund is the

entranceway to our downstairs hall which is a benefit to our veterans and to all who come into

our building.

The gift that Ottawa Poppy provided to the veterans, veteran’s spouses and veteran’s

widows/widowers in area manor’s and nursing homes this year was a Legion white hoodie

that zips up the front. Over 200 were distributed to people in the manors in Westboro’s area of

responsibility.

I had the privilege of helping out at the delivery of Christmas cards and gifts to the veterans at

the Rideau-Perley Hospital on Friday 23 December. The vets were very appreciative of the gift

of a warm Legion fleece jacket. I also had the opportunity to see our own Lou Sadowski for a

few minutes.

Doug Cody

Poppy Chair


YOUTH EDUCATION

This year we had fewer entries in the Literary and Poster Contests and fewer schools

involved but there were still some serious competition for the judges to think about.

The following students won prizes at the Branch level:

Colour Poster

Intermediate

1 Michaela Clairmont Notre Dame

2 Amanda Nolan Notre Dame

3 Megan Keon Notre Dame

Junior

1 Elisheva Simes Torah Academy

2 Levana Gray Torah Academy

3 Rivka Lengler Toray Academy

Primary

1 Fraidy Holland TorahAcademy

2 Sora’la Finkel Torah Academy

3 Chana Simes Torah Academy

Black and White Poster

Intermediate

1 Vanessa Cavanaugh Notre Dame

Junior

1 Elisabeth Howell Woodroffe

Primary

1 Abigail Palmer Woodroffe

2 Bashi Newhaus Torah Academy

3 Yair Greimaiman Torah Academy

Essay

Junior

1 Hassan Badreddine Dr. F. J. McDonald

2 Milae Uwera Dr. F. J. McDonald

3 Dalton Hall-Chorney Dr. F. J. McDonald


Poetry Intermediate 1 Yaffa Segal Torah Academy 2 Shira Shousterman Torah Academy 3 Rochel Clinton Torah Academy Junior 1 Naomi Loschikhes Torah Academy 2 Gloria Mavambu Dr. F. J. McDonald 3 Penina Brouerman Torah Academy

We forwarded 9 entries to Zone level competition with the following results:

1st Junior Essay Hassan Badreddine Dr. F. J. McDonald

2nd Black & Intermediate White Poster

Vanessa Cavanaugh Notre Dame

2nd Primary Black & White Poster

Abigail Palmer Woodroffe

3rd Intermediate Colour Poster

Michaela Clairmont Notre Dame

We are still awaiting the District level results for our 1 remaining entry.

Good luck Hassan!

Doug Cody

Youth Education Chair


PARLIAMENT HILL PROJECT

This year Zone G5 had a table in front of Parliament Hill where t-shirts, hats, pins and a

number of other items were sold. Thanks to volunteers Howard Scott, Brent Craig,

Laurie Cody and Carol Raoult (non-member). The Branch just received a cheque in the

amount of $1,240 as its share of the profits which will be put towards paying down our

line of credit. We will be getting involved with this project next year. If you might be

interested in helping out and also meeting people from around our community and

around the world contact D. Cody.

Doug Cody

Project Chair

WESTFEST 2012

Westfest will be happening along Richmond Road from Friday 08 June until Sunday the 10th.

Westboro Legion will be having its Pancake and Sausage Breakfast on the Saturday and Sunday

and will also be on the street with a table selling various merchandise. If you would like to help

out contact D. Cody for more information.

Doug Cody

Project Chair


Remembrance Day Service held at Carlingwood Shopping Centre.


WHY PEOPLE JOIN THE ROYAL CANADIAN LEGION

There are some things, organizations, places and even people, which most individuals either don’t know or know very little about. These things have to be announced and advertized in order for people to realize they are among our community. But once they are aware of it they don’t necessarily know what it’s for, why you would buy it, or why you would join it. The point of this essay is to better explain the purpose of why people would join the Royal Canadian Legion. First of all, when I first got the sheet explaining this essay, I read it; however, I wasn’t sure what I had to write about. This exemplifies what I mean by people not knowing about organizations and charities. I had never heard of the Royal Canadian Legion until recently. After doing some research I had a better idea of what the Legion was all about. The Legion was founded to provide a place where veterans could go during and after

serving in the Canadian Forces. It’s a place to socialize with other veterans. The

organization itself gave and still gives returning soldiers insurance for themselves and

their families. The wounded get treatment and assistance if needed. If the soldier died in

battle or was wounded, the Legion will help care for their families. The Legion has its

annual Poppy Campaign to fund the assistance to veterans and their families.

There is a Legion in every town in Canada. There are over 340,000 members in the

Canadian Legion. The Legion supports programs such as senior communities, senior

housing, senior long-term care, youth education and sports, Cadets, Guides and Scouts.

But why would people join the Royal Canadian Legion? Joining the Legion has the same

reason as joining your local food bank, volunteering at your little brother’s school garage

sale, or bringing in items to the angel tree. It’s simply to help other people within your

community. Whether you sell chocolate bars at the street corner for the Heart and Stroke

Foundation fund your school is hosting, or help organize big activities to raise money for

veterans and the veteran’s family in need, it’s help either way. The answer to the

question above is then very simple and clear, and is the main idea of joining the Legion

and it is only one word, HELP. People join the Legion to help other people. Although

the word help can be found in the dictionary like any other word, it isn’t just a word, it is

more than that, it’s an action. This action can be performed by doing something as

simple as playing cards with someone, bringing them to their doctor’s appointment or

the simple act of listening and creating conversation with them. Help can be showed in

many different ways such as the ones I have listed above and plenty more. These actions


will give hope, joy, and relief to the people in need of help. It’s like going to bed at night

and knowing there won’t be a lack of food or that there’ll be enough money in the bank

to support yourself and your family until the next payday. People need all variety of

different kind of help depending on their situation. While someone might only need to

talk and be heard, others lack the essential elements to survival like food, clothing and

shelter. If the number of people helping others in need of help increases, the amount of

people helped will increase as well. Most people will then feel loved and unforgotten,

and the worry and anxiety in their lives will be relieved.

By joining the Legion, not only do you help, but there is the opportunity to make new

friends, grow your social skills, develop and exercise your leadership skills and become

more involved in the community. There are also benefits to becoming a Legion member

such as social activities, member sports and community service. Social activities and

member sports are quite self-explanatory, however, community service isn’t. The benefit

of community service is the feeling of pride you’d get after assisting in the support of

youth, seniors, the disabled, the community.

Joining the Legion is a way to give back and support veterans who fought for our

freedom and the soldiers who still fight for our freedom today. It’s a way to thank them

for the freedom they have given us here in Canada and beyond throughout many years.

We thank them by helping and supporting them in whichever way they need.

There are branches in most communities across Canada and they can be found in the

local telephone directory, white pages, under “Royal Canadian Legion”. There are more

than 1500 branches throughout Canada. In order to join the Legion, find and contact the

branch that meets your needs and is most convenient for you.

In conclusion, people join the Royal Canadian Legion in order to get involved in the

thanking and the support of the veterans within their community. more people joined

the Legion like the 340,000 members, even more veterans could be thanked and helped.

Mylene O’Brien

Grade 9 Student

Notre Dame Catholic High School

Carleton Place


Ann Ecker, Branch 192 Youth Education Chair and George Wood, Branch President,

present Mylene O'Brien, Grade 9 student, Notre Dame Catholic High School, Carleton Place

with a $500 cheque for her award winning essay "Why People Join the Royal Canadian Legion.”

January 1, 2012.


WESTJET

CF Veterans are eligible for the baggage fee exemption with WestJet provided that they

have their NDI 75 or CF 75 - Record of Service Card with them and present it to the

WestJet agent at check in. This will enable them to check in a second bag without

having to pay the $20 fee to do so. Please note that overweight fees will apply if their

bags are over 50 lbs and any additional bags (3rd bag or more) would be subject to fees

as well.

A CF 75 card, now known as an NDI 75 card, shall be issued to any member of the CF

who has completed 10 or more years of service in any component of the CF or who, at

time of release, was entitled to an annuity. People may apply to the Director Military

Careers Administration and Resource Management 3-2 at (613) 996-7901 or

(613) 992-1228.

BRANCH WEBSITE

The Branch Website is back on-line. Visit us at RCL480.com


KNITTING PROJECT 2011 REPORT

There certainly are a lot of dedicated knitters out there. On December 23 I delivered 300

hats, 60 scarves and 70 pairs of mitts to the Carleton Tavern for Christmas presents to

the many members of the community who came to the Tavern to enjoy a Christmas

dinner with all the trimmings. On December 24 a delivery of 100 hats, 10 scarves and

20 pairs of mitts was made to the Newport Restaurant for their Christmas Day event.

The presents were very well received. Leftover items were or will be donated to

various area shelters and homes.

A big thank you to the knitters and crocheters from Park Place Retirement Residence,

The Westwood (formerly Central Park Lodge), some people in our community and, of

course, our own Legion members for making this donation possible.

We are looking at these and other possible undertakings for the coming year. If you

would be interested in being part of this project contact me at (613) 722-8859 or e-mail

[email protected]. If you have some materials you would consider

donating to help us out we would like to hear from you as well.

Laurie Cody


ENTERTAINMENT

January 1 The Diplomats 8:00 p.m. – 12:00 a.m.

January 6-7 The Classics 8:00 p.m. – 12:00 a.m.

January 13-14 Al Visser 8:00 p.m. – 12:00 a.m.

January 20-21 Terry McCann & Paul 8:00 p.m. – 12:00 a.m.

January 27-28 Peter C & Joan 8:00 p.m. – 12:00 a.m.

February 3-4 Pam & Doug Champagne 8:00 p.m. – 12:00 a.m.

February 10-11 Lorne Daley 8:00 p.m. – 12:00 a.m.

February 17-18 The Classics 8:00 p.m. – 12:00 a.m.

February 24-24 Country Reflections 8:00 p.m. – 12:00 a.m.

February 26 Heart Institute fundraiser 1:30 p.m. -7:30 p.m. with Lorne Daley

the bugler - westboro legion · 3 megan keon notre dame junior 1 elisheva simes torah academy 2...

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