'We do not sell poppies': Local Royal Canadian Legion distribution campaign underway

The 2024 Poppy Campaign is officially underway, in support of the Royal Canadian Legion.

The campaign will run for 18 days in the leadup to Remembrance Day. Donations are appreciated but not expected.

“If you sell them, it becomes commercial. It's not. This is the Legion's way of honoring the vets,” Shirley Drouillard told CTV News.

She’s the Poppy Chair for Royal Canadian Legion Branch 261 in Tecumseh; an event she’s been involved in for 20 years.

“It's very, very dear to my heart because my husband was in the forces for eight years and is now currently in a nursing home with Parkinson's and dementia,” Drouillard said. “Poppy has supported us immensely. They bought him equipment he needed.”

All the donations brought in during the campaign stays within the legion area from which they handed out.

Drouillard noted there are very strict rules for how the money is distributed but said they do work to help “younger” veterans returning from current tours of duty.

Royal Canadian Legion Branch Poppy Chair Shirley Drouillard and President Caroline Venus hope for a successful poppy campaign in 2024. They are seen in Windsor, Ont. on Oct. 31, 2024. (Michelle Maluske/CTV Windsor)

“They needed to be set up in a home, they needed to have groceries, they needed a place to stay. We get them on their feet,” said Drouillard.

Legion Branch 261 has already handed out 8,000 poppy stickers and 4,000 poppies to the schools in the area.

Homemade poppies for sale in LTC campaign

Meantime, at the Village at St. Clair in Windsor, the crochet and horticulture clubs have a poppy campaign of their own.

They’re selling homemade poppies, either crocheted or made of felt, along “Main Street” in the long-term care home on Talbot Road in Windsor.

Homemade poppies are for sale at the Village at St. Clair to support the Legion. (Michelle Maluske/CTV Windsor)

Horticulture Therapist for the village, Karyn O’Neil, launched the campaign three years ago.

“Often times when we're making these poppies, we're going around the table and talking about what people remember about the war,” said O’Neil.

“It is very important because they've actually lived in those times.”

Neighbours who live at the Village at St. Clair in Windsor, Ont are making homemade poppies. (Michelle Maluske/CTV Windsor)

O’Neil said on Remembrance Day, they will take some of the residents out to the legion to drop off their donations and to share a meal with local veterans.

“Hearing other people's stories really makes it come alive for me and really makes me appreciate what Remembrance Day is all about,” O’Neil said.