This year’s Royal Canadian Legion poppy campaign will begin Oct. 30 and will include sales of face masks.
The ‘poppy’ masks will be sold for around the $11 or $12 each range as a fundraising effort for the legion.
Melfort Legion President Jim Graham said they will have about 60 available to begin with and gauge interest.
“They certainly are an attractive mask and they might be reasonably well received so that is an added feature this year,” Graham said.
The masks sold in Melfort will go toward the local legion.
The plan is to sell the masks at the two main usual poppy campaign tables in the mall in conjunction with the Co-op Grocery store and Cindy’s Independent Grocer. Planning needs to still be finalized with COVID restrictions but Graham said there will be businesses that will have the poppy coin boxes as well.
The legion will also continue the normal canvas of businesses to display large wreaths or crosses for a donation.
Graham admits with the last Friday of October landing on the 30th, it will make the length of the campaign shorter.
“It won’t be quite as many days which will make it a little easier on canvassers but should still fill the bill,” Graham said.
The new masks will be available for purchase at the Legion on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons with someone being on hand on those days. They can also be purchased online through the poppy store with the proceeds going to the general revenue of the legion and its branches.
To date, 40,000 masks have been sold, with more on order. The masks were designed by the Legion, and are made in Canada.
“It looks like we are going into a cycle where people will have to be more serious about wearing masks and having a variety of them is helpful,” Graham said.
Remembrance Day ceremonies in Melfort are typically held in the high school with the largest auditorium in the city but this year that will not be possible.
“We will likely do a small, private ceremony at the legion and then arrange to have that broadcast on Facebook,” Graham said. “It’s important for people to be able to observe our honouring of our vets and those who gave so much in past conflict.”
Nationally, the poppy campaign has brought in $20 million.
“Historically, in the Melfort community we have raised somewhere between $13,000 and $18,000,” Graham said.
The Melfort Legion dispersed funds from last year to several community initiatives including the Melfort Heliport project, the North Central Health Care Foundation, the kidney dialysis unit in Tisdale, Legion Place, Parkland Place, and homelessness in veterans.
“We have injected a lot of money back into the community that people so generously provide us with and we look forward to carrying that on,” Graham said.
Members of the Legion are hoping to get some fundraisers underway but that is made difficult with the changing restrictions surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The poppy campaign is the poppy campaign and is directed solely on supporting veterans and dependants but in order to keep the legion going we will have to find someway to supplement revenue,” Graham said.
It costs around $1,500 a month for utilities in the legion building.
“We have to generate around $500 to $1,000 a month to keep us going,” Graham said.
More details on the Remembrance Day ceremony in Melfort will be announced closer to Nov. 11.
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angie.rolheiser@jpbg.ca
On Twitter: @Angie_Rolheiser
