The Westlock Legion was a flurry of activity last Friday morning as close to three-dozen volunteers began to distribute thousands of poppies throughout Westlock County.
Westlock Legion manager Avril Campbell was overseeing everything, making sure the donation bins, small memorials and baskets of poppies found their way to hundreds of locations throughout the town and county.
The money collected from poppy sales each year goes into the Legion’s Poppy Fund, and is earmarked specifically for purposes that will benefit veterans in this community.
“These are public trust funds,” she said. “We can’t just spend the money; it has to go back into something that supports the veterans in some way or another.”
This could be direct financial support for veterans who are struggling, donations to local organizations that support veterans in one way or another, or even bursaries and grants awarded as a result of Remembrance-themed literary and poster contests.
And the support in Westlock and area for this fundraising campaign is solid — last year close to $19,000 came in as a result of poppy sales.
“It’s actually been increasing year-to-year,” Campbell said.
Further to the traditional Remembrance Day activities in the community on Nov. 11, all residents are invited to attend an additional ceremony at 10:30 a.m. on Nov. 6 at the municipal cemetery.
Legion chaplain Marjorie Steele after hearing about No Stone Left Alone, an Edmonton-based charity that’s dedicated to putting a poppy on every veteran’s gravestone, she knew there was a place for it in Westlock.
“I took it on because I liked the idea,” she said. “It’s another way of remembering. This is another way of honouring all of our deceased veterans.”
This year’s ceremony will include serving members of the armed forces, RCMP members, a piper and a bugler, and some Grade 8 and Grade 10 students from both St. Mary and R.F. Staples schools.
Steele said including youth in this endeavour is crucial, because as the old saying goes, those who forget history are doomed to repeat it — and the sacrifices made by Canadian soldiers have had no small part in creating this country as it is today.
“They gave us this country we live in today, and even more so this year it’s more important because of the two who were killed out east,” Steele said. “I think that’s an absolute tragedy.”
