FERGUS – The annual Royal Canadian Legion poppy campaign kicked off on Oct. 29, marking the 100th anniversary of the poppy.
This year, new poppy boxes accepting wireless payments are being rolled out to branches within the county.
Fergus branch president Randy Graham said the wireless payment option is motivated by the pandemic and an increasingly cashless society – an issue of particular import for a campaign historically supported by pocket change.
The “tappable” poppy box debuted on Oct. 29 during the Fergus branch’s “fun night” and has since been relocated to Zehrs. Shoppers wishing to support veterans services with the purchase of a poppy can simply use their NFC-enabled smartphone or a tappable bank or credit card to contribute $2, $5 or $10.
The box will also appear at the Centre Wellington Community Sportsplex on Nov. 6 for the Grand River Mustangs Remembrance Day Classic hockey tournament.
Graham was the first donor to use the tappable payment box and said the Legion receives 100% of proceeds with no fees deducted for payment processing.
Funds are held in trust for Dominion and Ontario Commands to be spent only with approval from on high.
“It is not our money to spend without approval and it’s basically for the support of veterans, their families” – covering everything from funeral expenses to hearing aids – as well as youth projects like the Legion’s poster and literary contests, Graham explained during a visit to the Advertiser’s office.
A new poppy box used by the Fergus Legion can facilitate wireless payment donations in $2, $5 and $10 amounts. Photo by Jordan Snobelen
Poppy funds are also donated to the Veterans Care Program at St. Joseph’s Health Care Parkwood Institute and another program at Sunnybrook Hospital.
In the last two to three years, Graham figures the community has donated $40,000 toward the poppy fund through the purchase of poppies, wreath sponsorships and sizeable company donations.
“The generosity of people over the last two years has been incredible … more generous than they have [been] in the past,” Graham remarked.
Each year the branch orders upwards of 25,000 poppies.
“We have probably one of the better funds,” Graham said of the Fergus branch, owing to the generosity of the community, strong support for the poppy and demand for upwards of 80 wreaths each year.
But the largest draw of funds for the campaign comes from those passing by Legion members or Canadian Forces cadets (who will be making a return this year) canvassing at store entrances.
Graham said one of the “great pleasures” of canvasing with the poppy box is the number of people who come by and say thanks on behalf of a family member who served.
The fundraising and remembrance campaign focused around the poppy has been going strong for 100 years now; the red flower plucked from Canadian John McCrae’s oft-referenced In Flanders Fields poem and kept alive, living up to the “lest we forget” mission.
Fergus Legion president Randy Graham (Photo by Jordan Snobelen)
“These guys went out in the trenches; we can never forget those veterans who went out there,” said longtime Fergus branch member Fred Hiller, adding the Fergus branch has lost 13 veteran members in the last 18 months.
“It’s a group of people that are not around anymore; there’s getting to be less and less, but our 13 that we lost,” he said, pausing, “they were elderly statesman.
“We miss those ones down at the Legion,” he lamented.
Hiller, also a past branch president, has been a Legion member for over 40 years and said much has changed since he first joined.
“In the last 42 years I’ve been doing the poppy campaign, it has changed drastically; the only ones who wore uniforms back then were either the vets or executive members,” he said.
But with the loss of many traditional veterans and those who remain now well into their 90s, there’s a concern they will be forgotten, unable to advocate for themselves and share their stories.
And any bets on the future of remembrance – the key mission of Legions – will have to be taken up by veterans’ family members, newer veterans and members of the public “who believe in the meaning of remembrance,” Graham said.
The meaning and purpose of buying a Legion poppy serves both “remembering those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, but not forgetting those that continue to serve for what they fought for” and supporting veterans and their families for years to come.
The Royal Canadian Legion is also supplying a specially designed poppy commemorating the poppy’s 100-year anniversary, available for purchase from area Legions and online while supplies last.
The Fergus Legion had already sold out of the special poppy as of Nov. 1.
