A large number of Royal Canadian Legions throughout the country have fallen on hard times after years of its membership passing away or bowing out of regular volunteer activities, and cultural shifts away from alcohol consumption.
And the situation is no different in Prince George, where the local chapter has resorted to selling its building to defray costs.
Legion branch No 43 hopes to have its building sold soon, but carry on residing there.
Local Legion members built their headquarters at 7th Avenue and Quebec Street almost 50 years ago. The 20,000 square foot structure was put up for sale in January.
Board member John Scott said this week no deals had been signed yet, but there were some interesting proposals being considered.
Although the organization is prepared to pull up stakes and move to a new facility, the possibility has emerged of being a tenant in the building they have called home since the 1960s.
"We are hoping in the next two months to resolve it, but it is very preliminary at the moment," he said. "If things work out we would ideally still be where we are. But there is a huge debt load on us so we have to sell it, one way or another."
A mortgage plus the cost of heating, lighting, maintenance and taxes got to be overwhelming, in recent years for the veterans' group, which used to do a rollicking business but that diminished considerably with the members' age.
"We're not going to fold up. We will survive," said Scott, denying that the Legion organization was in trouble, only that they needed to streamline their way of living.
