Legion Branch 25 donates $45,000 to food banks, ARCH

Royal Canadian Legion Branch 25, at its general membership meeting held on Wednesday, March 6, presented three cheques totalling $45,002 to support the Sault Ste. Marie Soup Kitchen Community Centre, Salvation Army Community and Family Services and ARCH.  

Cheques for $10,000 were granted to each food bank while $25,002 went to the hospice.

The financial support to help feed those experiencing hunger and those needing end of life care at ARCH came from Branch 25’s 2023 Poppy Campaign.

Last year’s campaign raised approximately $115,000.

“It was one of the best efforts we have had. We are very grateful for the support from our volunteers and the community,” wrote Pierre Breckenridge, Branch 25 president in an email.

The full text of a Royal Canadian Legion Branch 25 release follows: 

Branch 25 had a few special guests at our general membership meeting March 6. During this year's very successful Poppy Campaign a number of our taggers and committee members noted the overwhelming community voice concerning food insecurity. The Poppy and Remembrance committee discussed this at length with veterans in mind. Our veterans, members and taggers wanted to do something to address this unprecedented demand for food. We wanted to support two of the larger organizations on the front line. We worked with Provincial Command and interacted directly with Ron Sim of the Sault Ste. Marie Soup Kitchen and Major Sean Furey from the Salvation Army to understand their programs. Both programs provide food and services to veterans, family members of veterans along with their other clients. Although it is sad that we have veterans and others needing these services it is comforting to know these services are operating. 

We provided both organizations $10,000 each to support the unprecedented demand for food. 

The second donation was presented to Algoma Residential Community Hospice, an organization that is staffed by some of the Sault's most compassionate, kind, and skilled staff. They do such incredible work under very emotional circumstances with clients who are very vulnerable. Their model includes not only the service they provide to the patient but also the family members. We are incredibly happy to assist in a small way to help them provide this excellent service. We donated $25,002 dollars to purchase a new hospital bed along with the maintenance and bedding. 

Both donations were provided from the Branch 25 Legion poppy trust fund. We are extremely thankful to our volunteers who helped raise the money and for the extraordinary generosity of our community.