Since the beginning of the pandemic, the doors to the Kindersley Legion Branch #57 have been closed to the public until this past Saturday where they finally were able to have members of the community inside for supper and to thank the public for the support they received during a tough time. Not only that but they welcomed everyone back to the Legion with their Special Recognition Night, handing out awards to a number of people and organizations that helped the Legion survive during the pandemic, but regardless of the reason for the gathering, now Past-President David Burke says that it would have been a great night no matter what.

"It was wonderful, it was just awesome. It was good to get out in the public again, it was good to meet everybody's smiling face to to honour the people that work here and and honour the community. We did this for the community, we don't do this for the Legion. Yes we thank all the people that got awards and all the special presentations, but we do it for the community because we need to keep this branch going and we need Kindersley to have a branch like like this one."

A big part of the night was dedicated to Ernie Krepps who received a number of awards on the night for his involvement with the Legion and the community, but the biggest was a Sovereign Volunteer's Medal he was presented on behalf of the federal government. Burke is the one who nominated him and he says it was a long process to get the medal here, but it was well worth the effort and even more well deserved.

"It's for his service because he does so much. He gets a lot of recognition, yes, but I mean a special one like that is over and above what he does. He's worked tirelessly for that medal and to have the federal government stand up and make one for volunteers across Canada is just awesome. It took me a lot of work at, I did a lot of diving in and it's not easy to to do a medal like that, lots of back and forth and and emails and everything else, but without Ernie this branch would have never kept going.  I truly believe that. Ernie has been the backbone."

Ernie wasn't the only one who received awards on the night. The combination of Country 104, Classic Hits 1330/1210, and West Central Online were one of two organizations recognized for their help and support during the pandemic along with the West Central Voice, and a number of people were recognized for their individual efforts with the Legion. A full list of winners will be provided below later today.

As for the event itself and what it brings in for the Legion, the meal and the hosting is likely going to cost the Legion a little bit of money once things are all said and done, but the night was far too important according to Burke.

"I think it's going to be a break even night, maybe a little bit of a loss, but I mean we had to do it. It had to be done for the community, it had to be done for the people that have supported us through COVID and the businesses. If we didn't have those people, we'd have never made it through COVID."

Last and certainly not least, Burke wanted to make sure that the proper recognition made it to the provincial government as well for their help in keeping the Legion open in Kindersley. The Legion was in dire need of some upgrades to their kitchen for continued operations later down the road, and because of the Saskatchewan Government, they were able to do just that.

"They have a special grant that's available for renovations that they came out through COVID, and if you've seen the kitchen now compared to what it was then. We spent roughly 35-40 thousand dollars, and they paid $20,000. They paid that from our government to help the Veterans Club stay in business and do the renovations that we needed to keep going for the public."