14 March 2007

RCL Troop Morale Fund

OTTAWA – The Royal Canadian Legion has announced today it is initiating an “RCL Troop Morale Fund” to buy the troops deployed in Afghanistan a Tim Hortons coffee and a doughnut.

To launch and run the RCL Troop Morale Fund, the Legion is working with the Canadian Forces Personnel Support Agency (CFPSA) which operates the Tim Hortons outlet in Afghanistan.

The intention is to have Legion branches collect donations from members at Legion branches and have the branch send the funds to Dominion Command in Ottawa for disbursement. Whenever the fund reaches a specified level the required amount of coffee and doughnut certificates are ordered and overprinted with the line “This certificate courtesy of The Royal Canadian Legion and its supporters in Canada”. They are then sent to Afghanistan for distribution by the CFPSA to the troops there.

Legion Dominion President Jack Frost sees the fund establishment as another way of helping the troops deployed in that location. “We help fund an annual show tour to that location and we are involved in Operation Santa Claus which ensures that they all get an annual Christmas present from the Legion. This effort will further show that we and many more Canadians care about their service and their sacrifices,” he says. “It’s a little gift but it means a lot, and it carries on our tradition of assistance to service people that we established in World War Two,” he concludes. At that time the Legion was heavily involved in providing troops with morale boosting materials and educational upgrades.

To start the ball rolling, Dominion Command of the Legion has made the first donation and is preparing the first shipment of certificates for presentation. It is hoped that member and public donations will fund a weekly purchase of a coffee and a doughnut for each deployed troop as long as they are in that theatre of operations.

Letter to Branch Presidents

For further information please contact Bruce Poulin at Dominion Command, The Royal Canadian Legion, at (613) 591-3335 ext. 241 or by cell at (613) 292-8760.

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