David Burke, who serves as sergeant-at-arms for the Kindersley Legion, stands beside the new Johnny Pag Malibu Motorcycle being raffled off in the Legion’s Bike Draw at the Red Lion Inn during the Goose Festival weekend. A local business operator donated the motorcycle to the Legion after winning it in a raffle organized by the Canadian Legion of Riders.
Kenneth Brown
of The Clarion
A circle of events led to a motorcycle being donated to the Kindersley Legion and the branch is raffling off the motorcycle to raise money for the aquatic centre.
Tickets are now being sold for the Legion Bike Draw. There is a limited number of tickets for the draw, so you have to act fast.
You get two tickets for $25 and only 300 tickets are being sold, so there are only 150 opportunities to purchase tickets.
The bike, a new Johnny Pag Malibu Motorcycle, was donated to the Legion by LongRange Services Ltd., an oilfield services company in Kindersley. You can purchase tickets until Nov. 26 for the draw.
James Crowley of LongRange Services donated the motorcycle to the Legion on behalf of the company after winning the bike on July 9 through the Canadian Legion of Riders (CLR) Charity Raffle.
David Burke, the sergeant-at-arms for the Kindersley Legion, is a spokesperson for the bike draw. Get tickets by sending an email to [email protected] or by calling Burke at 306-460-8389.
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The CLR is a charitable organization on two wheels that supports veterans. The organization donated $1,000 to the Kindersley Legion on Sept. 2 at the Legion’s Toy Run and Poker Rally. Burke said he was shocked by the donation.
“He just walked up and said, ‘I want to do this’,” he said of Crowley. He had never met Crowley before and all of a sudden he was donating the motorcycle to the branch to raffle off. “My mouth hit the floor.”
Burke said he is rarely a man of few words but he was caught speechless by the generosity. He said the community has been excellent to the branch in recent years and that support has included the building project at the Legion Hall. New members have also brought new ideas to help raise the Legion’s profile in the community, he said.
The branch does not get too many chances to raffle off a motorcycle, so members began to discuss the details of the draw at a meeting.
The ideas of one ticket for $50 or one ticket for $25 were kicked around, but the branch decided on two tickets for $25 with a maximum of 300 tickets.
Burke said the members decided to keep it simple and keep the cost down. He noted that the Legion has a Grey Cup pool and there are several other fundraisers going on in the community, so members wanted to achieve a quick turnaround with the draw.
“The aquatic centre is benefitting from this,” he added. All of the proceeds from the draw after expenses go to support the pool and the Legion appreciates the “unbelievable” donation by the company.
Crowley, the company’s shop manager, said he purchased tickets for the CLR charity raffle when he was at the Kindersley Trade Show in June.
He said he already owns a motorcycle and while it was nice to win something, he likes his bike and he had no plans of keeping the prize.
The donor pondered selling the bike but never got around to advertising. Crowley said he purchased $100 worth of tickets for the CLR raffle.
He said a recent event had influenced his decision to make the donation.
“I went on the Legion toy run,” he said, and saw first-hand the contribution the Legion was making to the community. “I figured it could be put to good use by them once again, so I decided to donate it back for them use the proceeds for a project in the community.”
He said he was involved with a Legion in Alberta, so he’s familiar with the organization. He added that he has become reacquainted with the Legion since going on the Toy Run and Poker Rally, so he’s happy to help out.
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© Kindersley Clarion
