Dear Editor:
I would like to thank everyone who donated to the Poppy Campaign since Oct. 26.
The campaign has, for the last few years, started on the last Friday of October and has run through until the last weekend prior to Remembrance Day. This drive is run by volunteers; the folks selling poppies are volunteers, the cadets who work the weekends are volunteers.
Not one single cent of this drive goes to your local Legion, all the monies raised go outward, to veterans in need, to their families, to hospital beds, to bursaries for students, to those who need our assistance just to make ends meet.
This is not some frivolous fundraiser where most of the money raised goes to salaries. No one at our branch or any branch grows fat upon these donations.
Due to the incredible kindness of the people of Fergus and others passing through, we were able to raise an astonishing amount of money, all earmarked to go to assist others. That is, in a nut shell, what the Legion does.
Cadets form a large part of the Poppy Campaign. These intrepid young people canvas for the Legion on weekends, some coming from as far as Cambridge to help distribute poppies in Fergus.
It would be remiss of me not to mention our veterans, who also campaign. Their only request is to have a chair, or a stool, upon which they may sit to receive our community’s contributions.
Thank you again, each and every contribution helps veterans and those in need.
Tom Kirby, Poppy chair