Eight Royal Canadian Legion branches throughout the South Okanagan Similkameen are showing support for Penticton Regional Hospital.
Ed Findlater, immediate past chairman for the Legion’s B.C./Yukon Command, said a combined pledge for $90,000 over five years is being made to boost the South Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundation’s campaign to supply the medical equipment for the new hospital tower.
The Legion branches in Penticton, Summerland, Okanagan Falls, Oliver, Osoyoos, Keremeos, Princeton, and Peachland have donated about $30,000.
The funding comes from Legion poppy fund monies, as well as 50/50 and meat draws.
The eight branches have a total membership of more than 4,000, Findlater said.
The branches are all members of the Legion’s South Okanagan-Similkameen zone.
He said the idea of a combined pledge gained solid support at a recent zone meeting.
“I thought it would be a hard sell, but it was really quite easy because they were donating to the tower anyway,” he said. “It’s just fantastic. It’s been an easy thing to sell.”
The Legion’s BC/Yukon Command, which donates $10 million a year to various charities around the province and territory, may also come on board at a later date.
“The reason we picked the hospital is this hospital is old and in need of upgrading,” Findlater said. “Everybody in these eight Legion branches uses this hospital at one time or another.”
There are 149 Royal Canadian Legion branches around B.C.