Fort Erie Legion gives nearly $60K to cadets, charities on 100th birthday

Royal Canadian Legion Branch 71 celebrated its 100th anniversary on Saturday by donating $58,000 to help feed Fort Erie residents in need and fund the town’s three youth cadet corps.

Branch 71 president Murray Morlog told Fort Erie Radio the donations reach residents who cannot get everything they need from government programs or from friends and neighbours.

“These veterans give up their lives for our country,” said Morlog, who joined the Legion in 1977. “They should be remembered, they should be honoured, and it’s a thrill for me to do it for them.”

The money, raised through the branch’s lottery and bingo games, will help feed Fort Erie residents in need and pay for youth cadet programs.

The Fort Erie Army Cadets, which the branch has sponsored since 1979, received $12,000. The 337 “Allan Troup” Air Cadet Squadron and the Fort Erie Navy League Cadet Corps each received $5,000.

“The cadets are the next generation of Legionnaires, and they’re learning the ropes, like what their forefathers did,” said Morlog.

Meals on Wheels, which delivers meals to people who cannot easily cook for themselves, received $10,000. The Royal Canadian Legion Band, which plays for free at public events, also received $10,000.

COPE Fort Erie, the town’s food bank, and Strong Fort Erie Neighbourhoods, which serves free meals and runs a weekly help hub at St. Michael’s Hall, each received $8,000.

Lesley Kinghorn, the branch’s public relations officer and the first generation of her family not to serve in the military, said one Korean War veteran told her stories over a beer at the branch that he never told his wife or children.

“If you get them in the right spot, the right time, and if you’re willing to listen, that’s the key–you just have to shut up and listen,” said Kinghorn.

Branch 71 opened in 1926, the same year Parliament incorporated the Royal Canadian Legion. The branch’s first headquarters was located near Murray and Bertie streets, then in the old town hall on Queen Street, before moving to its current waterfront hall at 130 Garrison Road in 1989.

Earlier this year, 92 years separated the branch’s youngest members from its oldest. Two 18-year-olds, including Kinghorn’s grandson, joined months before Second World War veteran Burdett Sisler, Canada’s oldest person, died in April at 110. A docudrama about Sisler’s life will screen free at TIFF in Fort Erie on November 12.

The branch will launch its annual poppy campaign on October 24. Poppy donations pay for emergency shelter, food, prescription medicine and rides to medical appointments for local veterans.

Counter-box donations have declined in recent years as more Fort Erie shoppers buy at out-of-town big-box stores, which do not carry the branch’s poppy boxes.

The poppy campaign ends November 10, the day before the branch’s 10:30 a.m. Remembrance Day service.

New memberships are free this year at every branch because the Royal Canadian Legion is celebrating its own 100th anniversary. More than 100,000 people joined across Canada in the first half of 2026, according to the Legion’s national headquarters.

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