Ridgeway Legion struggling to attract younger veterans

The Royal Canadian Legion branch in Ridgeway is “suffering quite a bit” in its struggle to attract younger veterans, says Chris Bateman, the branch’s second vice-president.

Branch 230 held its annual free veterans dinner Thursday at its South Mill Street hall for every veteran, whether or not they belong to the branch. Bateman said the branch wants its dinners to show younger veterans that the Legion is there for them.

“With these new veterans, with the stuff that’s been going on with them, it’s hard for them to get out,” Bateman said.

Bateman said older veterans still come out to the Legion, but younger veterans who still work have trouble fitting branch events into their week. He said the branch’s biggest obstacle is getting word out that its veterans dinners exist.

“Once the veterans start understanding that this is their home, then things will get better,” Bateman said.

Barb Hopkins, the branch’s president, said the hardest part is convincing younger veterans to come out and accept that they are veterans at all.

A young veteran of the war in Afghanistan once told Hopkins he did not count as a veteran because he had volunteered to fight, but she told him every soldier made that same choice.

“You’re willing to fight for your country, you’re a veteran,” Hopkins said she told him.

Hopkins’ sign-in sheet listed 19 entries Thursday, some for a single veteran and others for groups of two or three.

“If I don’t have their name and contact information, then I have to depend on somebody else to call to let them know,” Hopkins said.

Branch 230 has struggled to find helpers before. Legion volunteer Jennifer Taylor told Fort Erie Radio last January that the branch had faced staffing and volunteer shortages since the pandemic.

In June, Sergeant-at-Arms Lesley Goodison said the branch’s D-Day flag ceremony at Ridgeway Memorial Cemetery gets harder to staff every year.

Across Canada, the Royal Canadian Legion says 112,000 people had joined by August 1 after it waived fees for first-time members during its 100th year. About 15 per cent of those new members are 40 or younger, the Legion says.

Bateman said Branch 230 reserves a private room for veterans on two Wednesdays each month, where any veteran can eat a Grumps Catering meal and talk with other veterans.

Branch 230 will lead Remembrance Day services Wednesday at 11 a.m. at the Ridgeway Cemetery cenotaph.

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