CANADA—The Royal Canadian Legion’s annual poppy campaign is underway as of last Friday, October 25, and over its run it will be raising funds for projects to support veterans and memorial recognition efforts.
At a small ceremony in the Northeast Town council chamber last week, members of Royal Canadian Legion Branch 177 Little Current presented Northeast Town Mayor Al MacNevin with a poppy while he signed a proclamation to declare the period until Remembrance Day as ‘Poppy Week.’
Funds raised from poppy donations go into the Legion Poppy Fund. This program supports initiatives such as grants for food, heating, clothing, prescriptions, medical costs, home repairs and emergency shelter, housing accommodation and care facilities for veterans, veteran transition programs that address training, education and support needs of veterans and their families, comforts for veterans and spouses who are in hospital, outings, accessibility modifications, bursaries, support for cadet units, veteran drop-in centres, support for Legion service officers, disaster relief and to fund remembrance activities.
Volunteers at more than 1,400 Legion branches across the nation and abroad manage the annual campaign. All funds are held in trust at all levels of the Legion and all funding must go through approval.
One unique program supported by poppy funds is Operation Service Dog, an Ontario-based program. It ensures veterans get paired with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) support dogs that increase independence and well-being among veterans.
So far, 11 PTSD service dogs have been given to Ontario veterans and there are 30 more dogs undergoing the training process. These dogs are said to increase the number of outings a veteran may take to carry out their daily living activities and connect with family and friends, according to the Veterans Affairs Canada PTSD Service Dog study, which was completed last year.
Poppies are available at numerous businesses and public agencies, including the office of The Manitoulin Expositor in Little Current, in exchange for a donation to the Legion Poppy Fund.
