An aerial shot of the Hepworth Shallow Lake Legion Building after fire in January 2022. (photo provided by @GreyBruceDrone)
South Bruce Peninsula has approved a recommendation to allow the Hepworth Shallow Lake Legion to rent out the Sauble Beach Community Centre free of charge for meetings.
The Hepworth Shallow Lake Legion Branch building was completely destroyed in a devastating fire on Jan. 21.
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The recommendation says since the Hepworth Shallow Lake Legion members are without a facility to hold their monthly meetings, the town is able to provide space at the community centre and potentially other local facilities.
South Bruce Peninsula Mayor Janice Jackson says, “it will be quite a while before, I think, they are in a position to rebuild and host meetings again. Council felt it was imperative that we support the legion and we have offered our meeting space in the Sauble Beach Community Centre for as long as they need it until the new build is completed.”
The report says the Community Grant Program, established by council, does not give grants for regular operating expenses like rent.
“The program outlines that the grant is not meant to cover an entire activity or be the sole source of funding,” says the report.
Instead council has directed staff to allow legion members to hold their monthly meetings at the community centre and waive any rental rates associated with its use.
Despite being a council strategy to not waive rental fees and grant budget allocation be used for such requests, staff have determined the waiving of rental fees in this instance to be justified as the legion provides an important service to the community.
It was determined by the Parks, Recreation and Culture Division the rental rate would be $25 per hour. The report assumes the meetings would not become more frequent or be of longer durations that a monthly meeting of two hours, costing the town $500 in rent for the remaining 10 months of the year.
Jackson says the legion is a critical service in the community and to local veterans, to loose the legion in the fire was devastating and the town is prepared to do all that it can to assist.
“The Sauble Community Centre, geographically I think is about the closest for them and there is a lot of members I believe from the Sauble Beach area. So it just made a lot of sense to offer them one of the three rooms that we have at the Sauble Community Centre. We only have one room in Wiarton above the arena so it just made sense for us to offer the space,” says Jackson.
Jackson adds the legion is going through a financial hardship right now as they are trying to raise funds to rebuild.
“Not sure that any insurance is going to cover the cost of everything that it will take to put them back on their feet again, so it is one thing to be fundraising and have to put money out for a meeting space because they no longer have one, our council just wanted to help them out as much as possible,” says Jackson.
A GoFundMe page has been set up for the Hepworth Shallow Lake Legion, with a goal of $50,000. As of Feb. 22, over $8,100 has been raised.