Rae (July 21/03) - Thanks to the Royal Canadian Legion, Rae elders had enough money to charter two buses for their annual spiritual pilgrimage to Lac St. Anne in northern Alberta.

The Legion recently kicked in $5,000 for the trip.

Without the donation not everyone would have been able to go, said Margaret Lafferty, speaking through translator Ernestine Martin, who is also going on the trip.

"We would have only chartered one bus," she said.

Lafferty, her husband and kids journeyed to Lac St. Anne for 30 years.

It used to be a struggle, money-wise, for people to go, she said.

About 10 years ago, the Rae elders group started raising funds so more people could travel to the site where the Virgin Mary was reportedly seen standing on a rock.

Now, people from Northern communities, and others from around the world, travel to the site to pray.

Ninety-four people from Rae left in the buses on July 18.