The Covid restrictions affected many different businesses in Drayton Valley, but some of the not-for-profit organizations also took a hit as major fundraisers were cancelled.
Bill Cavanagh, the president of the legion, says that while they did have to dip into their funds, they weren’t in dire straits.
“Fortunately for us, we did take advantage of some of the government programs for funding,” he says.
Instead, they took the opportunity of the lockdowns to renovate areas that needed attention. In the past, Cavanagh says they were too busy to get to the renovations and shutting down the building seemed like it would be too much of an inconvenience.
Cavanagh says they do plan to work to shore up their funds and have their account balance where it was before the pandemic hit.
He says the legion is fortunate in that it has a steady income from events held there, including weddings and memorials. They also host a steak dinner once a month and that brings in some funds as well.
“We’re looking at additional meal type things in here in addition to the steak dinners,” he says.
The plan had been to open up in September, but with restrictions lifting they decided to open now. Part of the reason was so they could offer a space for people to hold memorials they’d been putting off because of the pandemic.
He says they’ve had a couple of memorials booked already, but he thinks that many have been scrambling to put together plans now that the restrictions aren’t in place.
“We hope to be there for the community when they need some place to go, they’ve got this. There’s bigger facilities, smaller facilities, we kind of fall right in the middle,” he says.
Cavanagh says they received an email from the president of the Legions in Alberta saying that none of the legions had to be closed due to the pandemic. “So that was good news,” he says. “We like to think that we give pretty good service for the community and the area and hopefully we will be able to continue to do that.”
Lions Club president Dylan Fulks says they did have to cancel some of their major fundraisers due to Covid.
“Our big fundraiser has been cancelled again,” he says. However, he is working with the midway provider and hoping they can get them to come to Drayton Valley even though they are past their original June date.
“They’re just building up their schedule now since everything’s been opened up on July 1,” he says.
The club has also resumed their bingos at the legion, says Fulks, and he says that will help to bring in some income for them.
He says they are also hoping to arrange some other events this summer, but since the club is normally closed down for the summer months they won’t have too much planned until they start up again in September.
In the meantime, Fulks says they’ve managed to keep donating to all of the groups they usually donate to. However, they have reduced the amount being given out to everyone to make sure they have enough money to function with.
Fulks says that they aren’t in danger of closing down the club. “We haven’t hit that point. Now that things have opened up we’ll start planning again,” he says.
