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Wearing the symbolic red poppy

Nov 3, 2010 | 6:19 AM

paNOW Staff

As Remembrance Day gets closer, more and more people will be displaying a red poppy on their coat or shirt. 

The Prince Albert Legion is in charge of selling the symbolic flowers, a popular Remembrance Day symbol that shows respect and commemoration for veterans.

According to Brenda Cripps, the Legion President part of that respect is wearing a poppy correctly.

“A lot of people take a little, wee Canadian flag or something so they don’t lose it, but that’s defacing the poppy. You just put it … over your heart and wear it on the left,” she said.

It can be hard to judge how many poppies the legion will need each year and with 7,450 poppies already going to schools, the supply was running low.

“We’ve put in an order for another 30,000 poppies and I believe they’ll all be gone by the time our campaign is over,” Cripps said.

Though Cripps and Gerri Laird, another legion member, both said they find many people are happy to support veterans financially, they do have one more request.

“We need help. We need help desperately to sit at the tables and sell the poppies … there’s so many little things that has to be done and we really need help,” Laird said.

The money raised from poppy sales goes to help veterans and their families with things like medical costs.

sfroese@panow.com