A volunteer who has spent 17 years as an unpaid full-time chef and caterer at the Royal Canadian Legion in Langford is getting a new state-of-the-art kitchen. And those who know chef Belinda LeBlanc could not think of someone more deserving.
“Bee will do anything at any time for anybody and this is why she deserves it,” said Norm Scott, president of the legion. “She can only achieve further and better for the legion itself, and give more opportunities for clients to come in and be partners of our branch.”
Kitchen work is hot and sweaty and you need to be meticulously organized, which is why it’s often compared to military work. LeBlanc has spent an insurmountable amount of her personal time overseeing a tough environment in a small space – around 500 square feet – staying on top of orders made from scratch for upwards of 200 people on any given day.
The new kitchen, part of the larger renovations at the legion, is approximately 1,810 square feet and better equipped to handle consistently big crowds, said LeBlanc.
“We’d have to turn events down. There was also no air conditioning in this part of the building,” said LeBlanc.
“Now, it’s a full top-of-the-line commercial kitchen. We used to just run around in circles and I would know when to zig and Valerie zagged. The majority of the renovations were the electrical, the plumbing and my kitchen. I used to share the beer fridge to store food with the bartenders and now I have my own walk-in fridge and freezer, they have theirs. It’s absolutely amazing.”
READ MORE: VIDEO: Inside the renovated Langford Royal Canadian Legion
Coming from a “legion family,”, the organization has served as a foundational place for LeBlanc. Her dad was in the military and her parents were long-time legion members. She remembers being “dragged to help set up tables” at a young age.
LeBlanc eventually did military administrative work and married a military man who built Bailey Bridges.
The legion has always been like a second home that she can count on no matter where she lives.
“It’s the camaraderie. It’s giving back to the community, it’s a lot of seniors, military members. No matter where you go across Canada, you run into somebody. You just pop into the local legion and chances are you’re going to meet somebody you knew in the military or who’s in the military.”
When LeBlanc moved to the community in 1996, she volunteered as a way of getting to know people and eventually took over from “Ma” (Marge Lewis) when she retired.
The legion is mostly run by volunteers and the only people paid are the bar staff and the secretary, said LeBlanc, who is now retired.
“I’m here pretty much 24/7 because we are open seven days a week. [Before], I’d come from my government job downtown and get off the bus and work here. On weekends, I’m definitely here all the time. I do all the shopping, organizing the volunteers, all the prep. It’s a full-time job all on its own and I don’t know how I did it while working at the same time.”
“I like to be busy. One of our past presidents made an award called the Busy Bee Award – it was made for me in recognition of my work,” she said.
LeBlanc is also secretary for the annual Poppy Campaign.
“We’re crazy busy – we don’t have a Friday or Saturday open from now until Christmas. We offer competitive prices and we try to make it affordable for people who can’t afford places like Bear Mountain, but still offer them a nice renovated venue so they can have an affordable wedding, celebration of life or anniversary parties.”
LeBlanc has a lot to look forward to in the next few months. The legion’s grand re-opening will feature a gala dinner dance on Oct. 13, plus an open house with activities and a barbecue on Oct. 14.
Plus, LeBlanc has a three-year-old grandson on the way in the next couple of weeks.
“I’ll have to take a little break there, but I’ll always be back,” she said. “I enjoy every single minute of it.”
