Waverley, Nova Scotia
As an active member with The Royal Canadian Legion and the Atlantic Canadian Military History Association (ACMHA), Steven Cochrane has not only volunteered much of his time as Chaplain for members of these associations, he has also worked to honour and help Veterans by collecting and donating blankets for Veterans in long-term care, cleaning the graves of Veterans, leading Remembrance Day services and organizing ACMHA events, among many other acts of service.
Steven has been a member of The Royal Canadian Legion for 24 years. He has held several positions but has served as Chaplain for Branch 160 for the past seven years and District “F” Chaplain for the past four years. He has performed over 100 Legion Tributes for fallen Veterans (Second World War to modern-day Veterans who succumbed to PTSD). These services consisted of the Sacred Service with the national anthem, Last Post, two minutes of silence and the Legion poppy. He has volunteered with Legion Veteran Christmas dinners and coordinated the purchasing and delivering of Christmas presents for each of the Veterans at the Camp Hill Memorial Veterans hospital for the past five years. In addition to that, he has collected and donated over 400 blankets to Camp Hill Veterans. He participates in the annual Veterans grave cleaning and decorating for Remembrance Day by placing white crosses and Canadian flags on each one. He has officiated at the local Remembrance Day service in Cole Harbour for the last seven years and also provides Remembrance Day services for eight local long-term care homes for residents who are unable to attend the outdoor event. He has collected and donated homemade mittens and toques to various shelters. For the past seven years, he has officiated the Liberation of the Netherlands Services at Pier 21 in Halifax for former Member of Parliament, Peter Stoffer.
Steven has also been a member of the ACMHA for 12 years. He became Captain and Unit Chaplain in 2011, Vice President and Corporate Secretary in 2015, then was promoted to Commander when elected President in 2017. His responsibilities included booking events, coordinating with event hosts and ensuring information was passed on to the membership, coordinating sleeping areas and meals for the membership on encampment weekends, ensuring all government and insurance matters were handled and addressed when needed, organizing fundraisers such as B-B-Qs and raffle draws and updating and maintaining the website and Facebook pages. He organizes artefact displays and participates in parades and events for Veterans. With other members of the Association, he’s traveled throughout the Maritimes to display military artefacts and don the uniforms of the past. He enjoys sharing his knowledge of the displays and always takes extra time to talk to the Veterans. As Chaplain, his duties were to provide spiritual leadership to the Association membership. He also officiated a Second World War style church service and assisted with prayers, moments of reflection and benedictions during weekend events and displays.
Steven has also been a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force Association for six years and became Chairperson of the Board in 2022. From 2015-19, he volunteered with the Army Navy Air Force Veterans of Canada as Chaplain, 3rd Vice, 1st Vice, volunteer bar manager, bingo caller and canteen coordinator.
As remarked by the President of The Royal Canadian Legion Branch 160, “Steven is a true ambassador of the Legion and he exemplifies what we stand for, to help and support Veterans and their families.”