Becki Zerr:
I'm Becki Zerr and welcome to Raising Kindness, a podcast all about promoting volunteerism within our community. Join me each month as I'm joined by my 12-year-old son Bennett and his friends demonstrating that together, despite my vision loss, we can definitely make a positive difference in others' lives. We may not always know what we're doing precisely, but we're going to learn, meet new people, and have a lot of fun during the process. Grab a friend and join us on our volunteering adventure that we call Raising Kindness.
Welcome to Raising Kindness. I'm Becki Zerr, and today's episode is all about honouring our current and past veterans. I have the honour of saying that both of my grandfathers were World War II veterans. My grandpa Bill was one of the most important people in my life. To me, he was like a third parent when I was growing up because whenever anything significant happened in my life he was most definitely at the top of my list of must-tell people.
Now, as an adult, it gives me pride in knowing that my family contributed to this amazing country that we all call home. My grandpa's war medals have now been passed along to my son and he has them proudly on display in his room representing a person that we all miss and hold dear to our hearts. I recognize that I was totally lucky to have the privilege of introducing my newborn son to my grandpa during his later stages of his life. Despite my vision loss, I still have a clear picture of that memory of my grandpa holding Bennett as a baby for the very first time in his arms. His expression was so full of pride and love.
Let's step away from that and get straight into today's episode. Bennett, his friend Zaren, and myself, had the opportunity to volunteer at the Royal Canadian Legion. Having the opportunity to help out at this organization was most definitely rewarding and it was all thanks to their president, Henry. Whom I now have the privilege to welcome to the Raising Kindness Podcast. Welcome to the show, Henry.

Henry:
Thank you.

Becki Zerr:
Henry. I'm wondering if you would mind starting off by telling us a little bit about yourself.

Henry:
The military has been a background thing in my life, but come from generations of who were involved. Myself, I was started into the Army right out of high school and then went back to university on my own stick. Stayed mostly with the reserves for the last 30 some years. Did a couple of tours with Afghanistan and now I'm retired from that, because they don't take old guys. Now I'm back and working with the Legion, because you try and give back in whatever way you can.

Becki Zerr:
I'm wondering if you can share a little bit about the Legion and the programs that they offer.

Henry:
Well, certainly. The Legion was founded in the first place to try and help returning veterans from the wars that needed help in one form or another, before the Legion was formed there were all kinds of local community organizations that tried to help soldiers that were in need of assistance. It was very ad hoc.
Finally, in the twenties, they organized the Legion. Regina Legion is the very first branch that was organized in Canada. It's number 001, so we're proud of that. Anyways, the Legion's primary function is to try and provide assistance when needed for any veterans, or previous servicemen, or their offspring in the way of financial assistance if they need it. If they're coming through town and they need some accommodation for temporary we try and help them with that. To have programs for assistance for their children that want to go to university, we have bursaries. Wherever we can help, we try and do that.

Becki Zerr:
How big of an impact do you think that volunteers have on the Legion meeting its goals and objectives?

Henry:
Oh, a total impact. Everybody in this branch of the Legion is a volunteer. We have no paid help. Anybody that you talk to is totally a volunteer. The people that man the desk and answer the phones come in strictly on their own stick. I don't get any reimbursement for what I do. None of the people get any assistance in our branch. We used to have hired people, but we find we can't really afford it right at this moment. COVID took a chunk out of our ability to do that stuff. We're starting again from scratch and we're back to volunteerism, which is what we started out as.

Becki Zerr:
I'm curious, what are your thoughts on kids contributing into the organization as volunteers?

Henry:
Well, I like it. I think that's very important. If we can get the younger generation involved, at least to be aware of what went on before, we'd to be less likely to have to go back to war in the future. I think that the younger generation will appreciate more what we're trying to do if we can get them involved in one form or another. Even coming out to tour around the museum, and see what happened before, and what we have in stock, the awareness itself will help in future generations. I'm sure that Bill, the man who did the tour was writing his glory, so it's very positive. There's no reason why it wouldn't be positive.

Becki Zerr:
If people want to know more about the Royal Canadian Legion, where would you direct them for this information?

Henry:
That depends on what they want to know, I guess. The best thing would be to just go into your phone book or onto 411 and find the number of the local Legion branch and phone there. The ladies that answer the phone or men that answer the phone, because we have some of them too. Those guys will be able to direct your queries to wherever or they'll be able to answer them.

Becki Zerr:
I want to say thank you so much Henry for the opportunity to allow the kids and myself to come and spend a little bit of time at the Legion today. It was such an honour and it was wonderful meeting you.

Henry:
Well, thank you.

Becki Zerr:
Next up I'm excited to introduce Trevor, a new Legion volunteer. Welcome to the show.

Trevor:
Hello.

Becki Zerr:
Do you mind starting off by telling us a bit about yourself?

Trevor:
Well, Regina resident born and raised. I have at the age of 26 I joined the Canadian Armed Forces and from that, what they call a basic engagement, which is three years. In that time I did my basic training, my trades training in straight to Afghanistan in the summer of August 2003. Did my tour there for six and a half months and came back in, I think, it was February I came back. From there I left the military after that be and got involved in law enforcement. This is where I am at now.

Becki Zerr:
Wow, that's quite the exciting career already for you.

Trevor:
Yeah.

Becki Zerr:
I'm wondering what initially drew you into volunteering at the Legion and what keeps you coming back?

Trevor:
Well, I think giving back to your community is important. I think there are a number of ways to do that. Everyone has what works best for them and for me it's volunteering. Volunteering with the Legion lets me connect with the people you worked with in the Armed Forces. When you leave the Armed Forces that's one big component you miss is those people that, essentially, were your family for that three years. It lets me reconnect with them, I guess.

Becki Zerr:
For sure. You hear all these things about how the Armed forces is one big family, so I'm happy to hear that you achieved that connection again.

Trevor:
Absolutely. Yeah, I still have a lot of connections with a lot of my old Army buddies. Yeah.

Becki Zerr:
Right. What do you think that volunteers get from volunteering at places like the Legion?

Trevor:
That sense of giving back. Right? I think it's important for the younger generation to come there and volunteer because I'm not sure if the younger generation has a real connection to the Legion at this point. I think it's nice to just integrate them. I know the Legion's done that through some different type of memberships they can have. Yeah, it's just important to be part of it.

Becki Zerr:
Absolutely. When you were an active member how did you find support from the Legion? Did you have any of their services or support?

Trevor:
Not as an active member, no. We had our support within the armed forces. I never really became interested in Legion until post-military career when you start wanting things back. When you start wanting that connection, I guess, with the people you served with. Right?

Becki Zerr:
For sure. You were with us today during our volunteer experience and had an opportunity to meet my son Bennett and his friend Zaren. I'm wondering what your thoughts are on youth being part of the volunteer force for the Legion.

Trevor:
I think it's a great idea. I think like I said, typically people think the Legion is the older generation. I think it's really important for her to get that younger generation involved in a Legion. If it's the older generation involved now at some point we won't have those volunteers. I think we need to carry forward the work the Legion's doing, and, ultimately, has done through volunteers, and bringing up these young people and letting them integrate into it, and having that sense of community within the Legion.

Becki Zerr:
Absolutely. For the viewers that are out there and are curious about what type of volunteer opportunities may exist within the Legion can you provide some examples by chance?

Trevor:
Well, I don't know exactly what's with the Legion, but for myself, I always look for volunteers in the museum for giving tours. There's going to be a lot of work coming up for cataloguing all the exhibits, research for the exhibits. Yeah, that's what I'm looking for. I know Henry would be able to tell you more about the Legion and other volunteer spots within the Legion. For me, specifically, looking for people to do tours, and people who are motivated, and want to come give some time, and do some research for the museum.

Becki Zerr:
Absolutely. Well, we had a wonderful time this morning with you guys and are sincerely appreciative of you spending some time with us today. It was really nice having the opportunity to meet you, as well. Thanks for taking time out of your exceedingly busy day to come and have a conversation with me and join the show.

Trevor:
Thank you so much.

Becki Zerr:
Okay, here we go. Time to hear from the kids. I'm really looking forward to hearing this conversation because I'm quite curious to hear what the kids have to say about this volunteer opportunity that they had at the Royal Canadian Legion. Welcome to the show Zaren and Bennett.

Bennett:
Thank you.

Zaren:
Thank you.

Becki Zerr:
Bennett, can you start off by telling us a little bit about your volunteer opportunity you guys had today and what you got to do? Zaren, feel free to jump in and help them out.

Bennett:
Today we went to the Regina Legion and we volunteered at their museum. It was a super fun time. We got to look at all the artifacts, the models, the pictures, and we got to do a scavenger hunt. Then at the end they put us to work and we cleaned the display cases with Windex.

Becki Zerr:
Guys, I'm wondering, was there something that each of you learned today?

Bennett:
I learned that there was actually a war in 1953 and it was called The Forgotten War. I think, it was the Korean War. I actually didn't know that there was a Korean War.

Zaren:
I learned that they used a lot of different weapons in war, like bayonets, a bunch of different rifles, different knives, swords, and everything.

Becki Zerr:
And what was your favourite part of the day? Zaren, do you want to start? Then, maybe, Bennett, you can share yours.

Zaren:
I really liked the scavenger hunt and looking around everywhere for the different models and pictures.

Bennett:
Yeah. I also really liked the scavenger hunt. My favourite part was going, walking around, and looking at the different things, trying to figure out was this the correct thing, and when we got it right it was a competition who got it first.

Becki Zerr:
What is something that you would tell other people about the Legion now that you've had an opportunity to spend some time there and help out?

Bennett:
I didn't really know what the Legion was at the start and I didn't really know that there was a museum. Now, definitely, looking back I will go there lots.

Zaren:
I'd say it's a really good learning opportunity if you want to learn about different wars like, the Korean War, World War I, World War II, all those.

Bennett:
Agreed.

Becki Zerr:
Well, I thought you guys did a great job and I think we all had a really good time together.
Okay, guys. Now, it's time for the Raising Kindness Challenge. This is the time to get our viewers involved and help is spreading kindness all around the country. Tell me, what do you guys have cooked up for us today?

Bennett:
Our challenge for you guys today is to go out to your... Go out and buy a poppy and wear it with pride and take a picture and post it on our social media page.

Becki Zerr:
I think this challenge that you guys are putting forward is fantastic. Bennett, you've always loved wearing a poppy each year and I hope that everybody goes out and buys a poppy. I hope you all wear it with pride in support of our veterans. I can't wait to see all the pictures on our social media.

Bennett:
Thank you.

Becki Zerr:
Speaking of poppies, when I used to drive my car I always had a poppy pinned to the driver's side roof by where the sun visor is. I'm sure that most people that rode with me likely had no idea that they ever knew that it was there, but I totally did. It was something that I quietly did on my own. My grandpa Bill passed away in 2010 and at that time my vision in my left eye was still intact allowing me to drive. During the months leading up to my grandpa's passing he was living in a long-term care facility on their veteran's ward. He passed away in September of 2010. That November the care home they held a special Remembrance Day ceremony and read the names of the veteran residents who had passed away that calendar year. I attended this service with my family and upon entry we were each given a poppy to wear.
After the ceremony when I got back into my car to head on home I replaced the poppy that had been in my car for so many years with the poppy that I had just received. They looked identical to anybody else, but to me the poppy that I was just given it meant so much more to me than the one that had been driving around with me for so many years. A few years after I had lost my eyesight I, finally, decided that I was ready to sell my car. The puppy that I had received from that ceremony, nearly 10 years prior, it remained in the same spot that I had positioned it the day that I had received it. The last thing that I took out of my car before it went to its new owner was my poppy. Now, it sits on display in my room as a small reminder of the man that means so much to me.
That's the end of this episode of Raising Kindness. We look forward to you participating in the Kindness Challenge, so be sure to tag us in on social media. Take care and thanks for watching.
That's a wrap on this episode of Raising Kindness with me, Becki Zerr. Thanks so much to all of my guests and to you for tuning in. Be sure to check us out on social media. You'll find us on Facebook and Instagram at raising.kindness.podcast. Don't forget you're going to want to like and subscribe to the podcast on YouTube and your favourite podcast platform. See you again soon.