The Cochrane Legion Branch 15 Men of Vision held the official kick-off to its annual Poppy Campaign at The Station on Friday.
Mayor Jeff Genung had the first ceremonial poppy of the year pinned to his lapel, and noted for listeners it was a great honour to be asked to support the important work of the Legion Poppy Fund in this way as a representative of the community.
Cochrane Legion Poppy Fund chair Darla Gullons pinned the poppy to Genung’s lapel before also doing so for all the other Legion reps present for the kick-off event.
Gullons noted that over 40,000 poppies had been ordered for the Cochrane region this year, with the hopes that there would be one on the lapel of every resident of Cochrane over the next few weeks. She also noted canvassers were already putting poppy boxes in stores, and the Legion would host its gift tables daily between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. starting this week at Canadian Tire and Save On Foods before expanding out into Walmart, the SLS Centre, Safeway and possibly No Frills by next week.
Gullons mentioned there would be five Tip Tap Boxes set up at various locales in Cochrane this year to allow people to give donations digitally at their convenience.
“So digitally, if you want to pay your donation, you can give us ten, five or two dollars, and just take your debit or credit card (to) tap and it all comes back to us,” she said.
Gullons explained that the Poppy Campaign would also work with local cadets to expand the campaign’s reach.
“On the weekends at the major stores, we will have cadets,” she said. “We have both our own KOCR Cadets and our (952) ‘WestJet’ Cadets, and they will be there with their poppy trays and taking donations as well.”
The cadets have turned it into a friendly competition between themselves, Gullons added.
“They love doing it, and actually they have a competition to see who raises the most money.”
The Poppy Campaign goes to support local military, police and first responders in need of financial support to pay for necessary services such as PTSD counselling, explained Gullons, and even for fundamentals such as basic food support.
“What the Poppy Campaign does is it goes to help support those veterans with mental health issues,” she gave as an example. “We also have military who are homeless. They live on the streets. We had a member of our executive– he lived on the streets for about 10 years after he got out … If it weren’t for an intervention by the Legion and the Poppy Campaign, I am not sure he would be alive today.”
The Cochrane Legion Poppy Fund makes donations to the Calgary-based Veterans’ Food Bank of Alberta, Gullons added. Proceeds from the fund also support school education programs and help out with local cadets’ financial needs.
According to Gullons, such important uses illustrate the vital need for Cochranites to give generously to support their local Legion Poppy Fund.
“I would say respect our veterans and go to buy a poppy, and make a donation,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if it is big or small, we love you all.”
