The annual poppy campaign, and the veterans you support through it

With Halloween behind us and November starting, it's the annual time to pay respects and honour our veterans, and also support them through the poppy campaign.

As you go about your day in the community, you'll see many businesses have the usual poppies you wear every year with a donation box. However, if you go to Co-op, Walmart, or No Frills, you'll also find volunteers at tables with other items, like pins, stickers, and of course the standard poppy.

Ted Currie, a veteran medic himself, is one of these volunteers, who volunteers for the poppy foundation to do what he can to support the veterans.

"(I volunteer) to help the veterans and to support the veterans food bank, things like that. In this day and age money is so short. This is a real reminder of what the vets have done for us," he said.

Currie explained he himself never went to war, as he was stationed at Camp Borden in Ontario to attend to the soldiers that came back from war. He said he considers himself one of the lucky ones, and he continues to do what he can to continue supporting the troops as he did so many years ago.

"(It's important) to get the young people aware of what the vets did, and just as important is to have money to help support the vets."

As for where the money goes, Chair of the poppy board Jenny Schumann explained all the money raised through the poppy campaign goes to the poppy account. This public account uses its money to assist veterans in many different ways.

"We help veterans with wheelchairs, walkers, and breathing machines. We help some veterans with the handi-bus ride into Calgary if they need help with that. Parking passes are available to all veterans," she said."

Every dollar raised makes a big difference, and the act of wearing the poppy itself goes a long way to raising awareness about the importance of remembering those who lost their lives to war, as well as those who survived but suffer from things like PTSD. If you see a poppy donation box around, your donation could be more important than you realize.

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