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The RCL Troop Morale Fund gets much bigger
By Bob Butt, Director Communications, Royal Canadian Legion
The Royal Canadian Legion’s Troop Morale Fund was set up in January 2007 to buy US dollar gift certificates so that our troops in Afghanistan can get a free cup of coffee and a doughnut every two weeks. By 29 April 2009 more than $400,000 dollars had been collected from branches and donors across Canada. Then came the Ontario Provincial Command Convention in May 2009 and another $200,000 was donated by the members of the Legions in Ontario to augment the $150,000 already donated by them.
The certificates purchased with these funds are distributed by nominal role in Kandahar and can be used at the Tim Hortons outlet there, or at home in Canada. Any profit that is made by the Canadian military-owned franchise in Kandahar goes back to the military’s Central Fund. This is a non-public fund used across the military at home and abroad to build facilities not covered by the Government of Canada. So our navy, army and air force people benefit twice from donations to the RCL Troop Morale Fund.
Each certificate purchased is stamped by volunteers from Branch 638 in Kanata, Ontario. It bears the words “This certificate courtesy of The Royal Canadian Legion and its supporters in Canada”. Once stamped, the certificates are delivered to the military in Ottawa and are then flown to Afghanistan where they are issued to the troops.
The fund is one of the Legion’s ways of saying thank you to our troops. Along with the $73,000 annually committed by Dominion Command to assist in the CF Sports Championships, the Nijmegen Marches and Operation Santa Claus, the RCL Troop Morale Fund is one of the many things the Legion does to bring a little bit of Canada to our troops in Afghanistan.
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