The Rotorua RSA celebrate's 100 years next year. Cathy Donohughe, administrator for over 6 years admits, "It has been a huge struggle to keep the RSA going."
"We need to get our young Maori serviceman involved to carry it on. We have to do it."
She says the slow dive began in 2010. "A lot of it is due to perceptions of the sort of people that are at the RSA. So we have been trying to push our membership to include the community." The annual Rotorua ANZAC Dawn Service held at Muruika urupa,
Ohinemutu, attracts thousands every year. It was established by veterans of the 28 Maori Battalion's B-Company in 1939, during WW2.
To accommodate growing numbers and limited space at Muruika, Merito says the league has this year hired a big screen that will be placed further back.
"Many are not able to see what is going on [at the front] as they are too far back. I came up with a thought that perhaps we should look at putting up a big screen."
That comes at a cost of up to $7000, meaning this year's budget was estimated to be over $10,000, of which the league of 38 members, raised themselves.
"A lot of the preparation that we did was blind. In other words, it was preparation that we did, even though we hadn't got what we applied for."
Te Kei Merito says, although the current strength of the league is enough to keep things going, future support cannot be avoided.
