The COVID-19 pandemic has put the Prince George Legion on life support.
Although now allowed to operate as restrictions have been lift, the limits that remain in place on the number of patrons and the events it can host has put branch president Margaret Goings in grave doubt about how long the venue can continue to operate.
"We're, right now, hanging on by a thread because there are a lot of things that we can't do that we were able to do before," Goings said Monday.
Those can'ts include dances and live music as no more than 50 people - volunteers included - can congregate at a time. Capacity is 228 and prior to COVID, 200 would often pack the place on a Saturday night. Now, it's pretty much limited to dinners and meat draws.
"It's really hard on us right now because we haven't got the money coming in like we did before," Goings said.
The branch has "applied for everything we can think of to try and help us out, but basically everything has been 'no, no, no, no,'" she added.
Forced to close in March, it reopened in early June but on limited days and hours. (Thurs., 4-9 p.m.; Fri., 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m., Sat., 3-9 p.m.).
A GoFundMe page was launched in April with a goal of raising $20,000 but so far, just slightly more than $6,000 has been donated. However, Goings said donations are being accepted at the Legion when the doors are open and said they have gone a long way to keeping the 1116 Sixth Ave. spot in business.
Goings is also looking for a volunteer cook which she said will help significantly.
The Legion provides more than just a place to socialize and take in some entertainment. Former branch president John Scott said the annual poppy campaign raises $70-$80,000 locally and the proceeds go to programs to support veterans and their families.
He said none of that money goes to the branch in any other manner. If the branch was forced to close, Scott said the poppy campaign could continue but noted that in other communities where closures have happened, it falls by the wayside.
"Then the community has to take up that loss and, you know, veterans go homeless and they go without medical services, they go without equipment and all that kind of stuff that we supply," Scott said.
Veterans Affairs does not look after all veterans, Scott noted.
"They only look after veterans who have a claim for injuries," he said, and added the Legion helps members with those claims.
Scott said he continues to work as a volunteer service officer and the Legion has two paid service officers based in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island.
"They're paid for through our poppy funds," he said.
The branch needs to take in just about $10,000 a month to stay above water. If a second wave of the virus strikes in the fall, "we can say goodbye to our Legion because there is no way we'll be open," Goings said.
