If yellow ribbon sales by the Fergus Legion are any indication, remembrance and gratitude for Canadian troops are alive and well here.
Branch 275 Legion officials planned to sell about 300 large yellow ribbons to welcome home Canadian soldiers from the mission in Afghanistan.
They were blown away by the demand and eventually sold close to 1,500, raising $5,000 for the Military Family Resource Centre.
“It just took off on its own,” said Brian Bielby, the Legion’s past president and one of the organizers of the local Yellow Ribbon campaign.
Bielby brought the idea to Branch 275 after attending the Legion District annual convention in Owen Sound earlier this year, where someone brought a yellow bow and suggested Legions in the district could do something positive to welcome all soldiers from across Canada who had served in Afghanistan.
In July Canada started bringing home troops from a war that lasted for nearly eight years in Afghanistan and saw over 150 Canadians killed in action.
Bielby said the goal all along was to honour those who served in Afghanistan.
“The fact that we sold so many and were able to make $5,000 was a bonus,” he said.
He opined such a campaign required the leadership of the Legion to get off the ground.
“Once you do that, the community will rally around it,” he said, adding that Pine Meadows, near Belwood, was particularly supportive.
In hindsight, Bielby said perhaps he should not have been surprised with the support, given the way the local community annually rallies around the poppy campaign.
The Fergus campaign annually sells over 10,000 poppies and raises around $20,000, which Bielby said is “incredible.”
He thanked the community on behalf of the Legion and also thanked the women who spend hours making the ribbons non-stop over several weeks this summer.
He said the team that completed the “phenomenal” work includes: Beryl Russell, Elizabeth Pearse, Joan Ferrier, Linda Semanyk, Maria George, Mary Barber, Mary Schmidt, Pearl Davis, Dianne Smeltzer and Mary Mackenzie-Mason.
All the proceeds from the campaign went to the Military Family Resource Centre, a non-profit organization with 32 chapters across Canada that provides information, support and resources to the families of serving personnel.
