Volunteers make poppy fund grow

BELLEVILLE, Ont. (15/10/12) Chairperson Jane Joyce (left) and volunteer Marvin Schmidt display a few of the wreaths to be delivered to local schools and businesses. While poppy sales begin October 26, wreaths are currently avaliable for purchase. Photo by John Boldrick.

By John Boldrick

If you were to walk pass Marvin Schmidt on the street, you’d likely assume he was someone’s grandfather and move on with your day.

However, to the Royal Canadian Legion, he is much more than your average citizen once October rolls around.

He’s part of a dedicated team of voluenteers whose job is to make sure that poppies and wreaths are avaliable throughout Belleville in time for Remembrance Day.

Schmidt has volunteered his time for the Belleville poppy fund committee for over 20 years. This year he is once again helping to make sure poppies are delivered all over the Quinte region.

Becoming one of the main committee members wasn’t always in Schmidt’s plans. Originally it was more of a job than a volunteer opportunity.

“I attended because I was an executive in the Army Navy and Air force club and my president told me to,” he said.

Now Marvin views his position with pride.

“I must say I was reluctant in the beginning and then I got working with it and actually seeing what we do and then I became a passionate supporter of the poppy fund,” he said.

Schmidt’s main job is being the right hand man of new committee chairperson, Jane Joyce. Joyce took over the position just a few weeks ago, although she is by no means new to the legion.

“I’ve been a member of the Legion for 42 years and I’ve had posts before but not in this branch,” she said.

Joyce, a former service officer in Toronto, is also more than familiar with helping veterans. She said that having an official title and dealing with the bureaucracy is a change from the past.

“I did it in Toronto for seven years but I had people coming in off the street for help, not like Belleville where they make appointments, so I’m not new new but new to the new regulations and all the paper work that’s involved in it. It’s really a lot,” she said.

The cause and organization is an important one for Joyce.

“I believe in supporting our veterans, our old and our new, we have many that we help and the government isn’t doing enough. They shouldn’t have to come look for money on the side, they should be taken care of properly,” she said.

That’s where the poppy fund comes in. Every year, the money raised from the sale of both poppies and wreaths goes directly to veterans and services that help veterans such as the hospital, Hastings Manor, the food bank and meals on wheels. The money also helps the families of veterans in their times of need, even if the family member is no longer associated with the Legion.

“When it comes to spouses and so on, then we do help them with other things. I had a request for a walker that we helped the one spouse of a merchant Navy veteran, he’s passed away but his wife is still able to get help from us,” said Schmidt.

The initiative started in early October when letters were sent out to around 500 homes in the area, announcing the start of the fund drive, with poppies being delivered to stores and other locations on October 26. It lasts all the way up until November 11, Remembrance Day.  In the six weeks from letters being sent home to the end of the campaign, the Legion is able to raise substantial funds for veterans.

“Annually we are between $35,000-$40,000 every year. Actually it’s been going up where it’s over $40, 000,” said Schmidt.

This year, the poppy committee has set a loftier goal, hoping to raise $50,000. Joyce said it is important to spread the message about the poppy fund so that they can help as many people as possible.

“Get it out to the public that the poppy fund is not a toy, it’s a very important tool to help our veterans,” she said.

Joyce and Schmidt cannot do all of the work alone. They work with a group of veteran volunteers to make sure that everything runs smoothly.

“It’s the same old- Marv and Sandy, Kenny and Russ. These are people that have been with it for 25 or 30 years,” said Joyce.

Even with such a dedicated group, the Legion is always looking for more volunteers to help out with jobs such as delivering some of the over 50,000 poppies the committee plans to send out.

“We deliver approximately 260 poppy boxes to different stores; different schools so we are always looking for volunteers to those different locations,” said Schmidt.

For the committee, it is often harder to find new public volunteers. Members of local clubs that the legion helps take the cause.

“This year I’ve noticed we have a few people that might not be service club members that are volunteering,” said Schmidt.

Joyce said the changing times are one of the reasons why people no longer want to voluenteer.

“That seems to be an outdated thing now- to volunteer. They’re making students do it to get credits in school, which, I mean, their heart isn’t in it so why force them,” she said.

One group of young people are willing to dedicate their time to helping the legion and committee: is the Cadets.

“They are wonderful. There’s our future. That’s the future of our country is our cadets and if we could get every student to join one of the corps it would make a big difference in their lives and it would help us, but it’s freedom of choice,” said Joyce.

Even without help from the majority of the community, Joyce and Schmidt keep on pushing forward because the cause is an essential one to support.

“It’s so important that it keeps going and that we keep people in it,” said Joyce.