(Nigel Maxwell/paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Supporting veterans

Local community club searches for next generation of members

Nov 6, 2019 | 8:15 AM

With Remembrance Day around the corner, two members of Prince Albert’s Army, Navy and Airforce Veterans of Canada (ANAVETS) club are reaching out for help.

Donny Parenteau and Mark Tweidt have been busy planning the club’s latest fundraiser. Tweidt told paNOW there’s a real need to get some new members.

“People have been here and they know about it, but it’s one of those jewels that people have forgotten about,” he said, adding a lot of the veterans are no longer coming. “Because there are fewer memberships, money is dwindling.”

On a Friday afternoon, the ANAVETS club was very quiet. (Nigel Maxwell/ paNOW Staff)

The ANAVETS club has been open in Prince Albert since the early 1970’s and currently has over 200 members although many are no longer active. Parenteau acknowledged he was aware there may be some misconceptions what the club represents, and who can join.

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“It could be the fact people think ‘Well I don’t have anything to do with the army or the military, so I don’t think I can become a member’ [that’s] not true,” he said, adding memberships make clubs stronger.

Parenteau admitted he had a personal reason for wanting to see the club thrive. When Parenteau was 14, the ANAVETS club was among the first venues he played.

“I remember when I would walk in, they had a special place for me to sit and I couldn’t move because I was a minor,” he laughed. “If it wasn’t for this place, I might not be where I am musically.”

On Friday, Parenteau, Marty Grambo and others will play at a sold out show. Money can also be donated at the event to assist families who have lost loved ones in the war.

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nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell