Sechelt Legion Branch 140 members will meet July 31 to vote on selling the Legion building and grounds at 5591 Wharf Ave.
The move comes after repeated public pleas for help since 2012 to keep the floundering Legion afloat.
It has been steadily dipping into reserves to cover operating costs since 2010 when the Ladies Auxiliary broke away from the Legion and stopped volunteering in the kitchen, according to Paul Lith, chair of the Legion’s finance committee.
“They provided all the meals. In fact, at the end of the year, they would typically make a sizeable donation on top of everything else,” Lith said.
“So at that point the branch now had to look outside to get paid help because there weren’t any volunteers to step in and work six hours a day in the kitchen.”
He said the Legion’s typical monthly overhead is around $24,000 and noted it has been difficult to make that much revenue each month through bar and kitchen sales, which has resulted in the repeated use of reserve funds. (Money from fundraisers and poppy sales cannot be used for operating costs and must go back to the community and veterans in need.)
Now, Lith says, there’s no reserve funds left to dip into and the membership itself has given nearly $10,000 out of pocket to help keep the doors open, but that money has also been spent.
Looming is a $14,000 property tax bill that has to be paid to the District of Sechelt and some remedial work with a suspected price tag of around $10,000 that has to be done to fix a leak before the property can be listed for at least its BC Assessment value – $1.13 million.
Lith said the membership would vote on July 31 on selling the property and taking a $50,000 loan from the Legion’s B.C. Yukon Command to pay the taxes now due, fix the leak and keep the doors open until a buyer can be found.
He suspected the majority would vote to sell, with the absence of other options.
In the past the Legion has looked into creating seniors and veterans housing, tried putting money into sprucing up the facility and endeavoured to book a solid lineup of events to bring in patrons (and their cash), but to no avail.
The prospect of selling the property, purchased by the Legion in 1974, is upsetting to Branch 140 members, but Lith said selling the property doesn’t necessarily mean the end of the Legion in Sechelt.
If the membership can find another suitable location to move to they can keep their charter intact, the money from the sale of the property would stay connected to Branch 140 and it could be used to rent, lease or buy another space and create a new reserve fund.
Lith said that new space would have to be much smaller to be feasible and noted the Legion is discussing possibilities with another service club that could have some space available on the Coast.
“We are hoping to work something out with the Sunshine Coast Lions Club in the event we have to vacate our current building due to the sale of the property,” Lith said.
“However, we would appreciate any suggestions or proposals from the community for short-term and/or long-term solutions.”
If you would like to help, contact either Lith or Legion president Kay Metcalfe at 604-885-2526.
