Poppy shortage ahead of Remembrance Day

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Many local legions have run out of poppies following an increase in support after two Canadian soldiers were killed last month, but unfortunately, it’s too late to order any more.

Executive Director Inga Kruse says 2.3 million poppies were ordered in BC and the Royal Canadian Legion is now working with different locations that may have extras to share.

“You see trays in the stores with collection boxes — those are gradually emptying and we refill them as fast as we can, but I think we wouldn’t be able to refill the demands that much longer.”

They’ve also run out of the 4,000 wreaths that were ordered and are looking into their old supplies to see if there are any left over from previous years.

During the course of a year in Canada, legions typically hand out about 18 million poppies but they’ve already surpassed that number by one million and that doesn’t surprise Kruse.

“Not particularly because we had such an incredible outpouring of concern and grief from the Canadian public and we share all of those feelings, worries and concerns. But we’re also very, very honoured by the fact that people first turn to us. The first thing people said was, ‘I want to wear my poppy early.’ ‘I want to remember.’ ‘ I don’t want to be intimidated by this action.'”

“There are many people that consider Remembrance Day about an aging veteran and the World War II vets, but I would like to make the point that many, many of our younger veterans come out to these ceremonies. They’re not in uniform and they stand in the crowd like everybody else.”

If you would like to help, you can text the word POPPY to 20222 for an automatic $5 donation into the Poppy Fund.

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