With Remembrance Day almost two weeks ago, Moose Jaw’s Royal Canadian Legion Branch 59 has finalized the results of their Poppy Day, which ran from Oct. 28 to 29.

Poppy Chair LtCdr.(Retired) - Royal Canadian Navy - Sue Knox says that in those two days they raised $11,635.  

“It was a good opportunity to get the public involved in the campaign again and businesses were quite receptive to having trays there and specifically on Poppy Day,” says Knox. “All of the trays came back very well. We’re very happy with how the campaign went this year.” 

Knox adds that there were 12 Poppy Day teams scattered around the city on that day from 9:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.  

Poppy Day is the kickoff to the legion’s poppy campaign for the remembrance period leading up to Nov. 11. Knox says it’s a way to get poppies on lapels and out around the city to show support for Moose Jaw’s local veterans and what they did to keep our freedom the way it is today.  

The entire campaign kicked off on Oct. 28 and ran through until Nov. 11. For that 10-day period, Knox says the whole campaign as a whole was very successful.  

“Our basic total of funding that we raised through the entire campaign was about $50,000 within the city this year. That’s a higher amount than we’ve had in past years and it will go to support a lot of activities with regards to our veterans.  

“I thank the general public, businesses, and all of our volunteers who assisted with the campaign over that 10-day period. It was phenomenal and went well beyond what we anticipated or expected.” 

All the funds raised from the poppy campaign will stay right here in Moose Jaw to go toward supporting local veterans 

“Areas that we support here locally are homeless shelters if we have veterans in need, and transition houses if there is a requirement for support to men or women in family situations that they are having problems with.” 

“We also, help the [Dr. F.H ] Wigmore Hospital on an annual basis with a donation to help support veterans’ issues within the hospital medically on an on-going basis. We help out individual veterans and their families if they have medical issues and need transportation for extra medical requirements outside of the city.” 

The legion also uses the funds raised to support veterans on a provincial level if there is a requirement and the need is there.  

In addition, Knox says that every two years the legion helps out the Commonwealth Veterans who are mainly located in the Caribbean area.  

“That gets gathered from all the branches from across the country by Dominion Command and they send them one cheque on an annual or semi-annual basis.” 

Looking back at past campaigns and comparing them to this year’s, Knox notes that they have had better years in the past, but was pleasantly surprised by how much they were able to raise this go-round.