Vancouver Poppy Fund concerned donations could dip due to COVID-19

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — Donations to the Vancouver Poppy Fund are expected to be down this year because of COVID-19.

That could affect services to veterans, according to Jim Howard, with the Vancouver Poppy Fund.

“Definitely, we’re going to be down and this year,” he said. “Normally, I would order 400,000 poppies for our Vancouver area and this year we ordered 200,000.”

Some grocery and drug stores that usually have a poppy donation collection tray at the register have said no this year because of concerns over COVID-19, he added.

“We know we couldn’t be out on the street poppy tagging the way we normally do either because we don’t have the cadets or the scouts out there poppy tagging for us, simply because of the COVID,” Howard said.

The fund usually picks up several thousand dollars a year at the Victory Square cenotaph on Remembrance Day, but the event this year is by invitation only.


Electronic donation boxes have been set up and more than 200 HSBC locations across the country, where you can tap a debit card to make a contribution.

Howard explains that donations received go to help members get things like new teeth and food.

“We’re going to have to cut back in certain areas, but as long as we can still take care of the feeding of our vets who are coming in, and the fellows who need teeth, hearing aids and things of this nature, and these users just don’t qualify through Veterans Affairs, or they falling through the cracks of Veterans Affairs.”

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