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The Poppy Selling Superthread- Merged

  • Thread starter Thread starter MAJOR_Baker
  • Start date Start date
In 1922, Major George Howson, a young infantry officer, formed the Disabled Society, to help disabled ex-Service men and women from the First World War. Howson suggested to the Legion that members of the Disabled Society could make poppies and the Poppy Factory was subsequently founded in Richmond in 1922. The original poppy was designed so that workers with a disability could easily assemble it and this principle remains today. Visit their website www.poppyfactory.org for more information.

 
It would be nice if some manufacturer of small stick-on emblems (Canadian flags, rank badges, etc) would start making a black plastic widget the size and shape of the poppy centre -but with the short pin and backing.
Such a device could be bought separately -a one time thing- from the existing poppy. You could then buy your poppy yearly -thus supporting the veterans- but discard that growing menace-to-society known as the poppy pin, with the added benefit of never having your poppy cleaned off by a seatbelt or any of the other myriad reasons why they vanish from your jacket at the first opportunity.
Anyone from CANEX reading this thread ?
 
C'mon, quit with the eye-rolling you guys - it took those highly-paid geniuses in the auto-industry a couple of decades to think up the simple idea of adding small rear doors to extended cab pickups...now they all have them.
This is an idea whose time has come  :D 
 
With the usual provisions concerning copyright:

Calgary eatery compromises on staff poppy protocol
Last Updated: Tuesday, November 11, 2008 | 11:43 AM MT CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2008/11/11/calgary-red-lobster-poppy.html

A Calgary restaurant has come to a compromise between allowing employees to wear Remembrance Day poppies and food safety.

Staff at a Red Lobster location in northwest Calgary must use something other than a straight pin to attach the emblem to their clothing. It's a safety precaution and not a corporate policy for the chain, said manager Rob Stilborn.

A pin fell into a customer's food last year, but the patron noticed it before starting to eat, he said.

"We'll allow them to wear it if they're secured with a staple or a safety pin or something that's actually got a securing mechanism to it," he told CBC News on Monday.

An earlier newspaper report that the restaurant banned its employees from wearing poppies created quite a stir, said Stilborn.

"I've fielded calls from guests. I just got off the phone … earlier with a [Southern Alberta Institute of Technology] student who apparently, they are organizing a petition. I talked with CNN … from the United States. Yeah, it's been quite a concern."

Stilborn said his restaurant supports the Calgary Poppy Fund and has a poppy box to collect donations at the front counter.

George Pittman, chair of the Calgary Poppy Fund, admits the poppies are easy to misplace.

"I just lost two on my drive down here, from the seatbelt on our van here, and I think it's a moneymaker for the poppy fund," he said.

Pittman said Calgary raises about $2 per person — the highest rate in the country — with the poppy fund.

Calgarians donated almost $2 million to the fund last year.

 
stealthylizard said:
In 1922, Major George Howson, a young infantry officer, formed the Disabled Society, to help disabled ex-Service men and women from the First World War. Howson suggested to the Legion that members of the Disabled Society could make poppies and the Poppy Factory was subsequently founded in Richmond in 1922. The original poppy was designed so that workers with a disability could easily assemble it and this principle remains today. Visit their website www.poppyfactory.org for more information.

The Poppy Factory is the primary manufacturer of "poppies" in England, but the English version is different from the Canadian poppy; they are made of paper and (especially considering the focus of this thread) do not have a bent pin like the ones over here.  On the occasion several years ago when I wore one in the UK, I had to get a separate pin to attach it.

While poppies in the UK are still actually made by groups that maintain a connection to disabled veterans, it is no longer the case in Canada.
http://www.legion.ca/Poppy/campaign_e.cfm
The Lapel Poppy

The lapel Poppies that are worn in Canada today were first made, beginning in 1922, by disabled veterans under the sponsorship of the Department of Soldiers Civil Re-establishment. Until 1996, Poppy material was made at the “Vetcraft” sheltered workshops run by Veterans Affairs Canada in Montreal and Toronto. The work provided a small source of income for disabled ex-service persons and their dependants, allowing them to take an active part in maintaining the tradition of Remembrance.

When it no longer became practical for Veterans Affairs Canada to maintain the “Vetcraft” operations, the Legion volunteered to take on the continuing responsibility for the production of Poppies.  In so doing, Dominion Command has awarded a production contract to a private company to produce the Poppies but all operations are conducted under strict Legion control and oversight.
 
stealthylizard said:
With the usual provisions concerning copyright:

Calgary eatery compromises on staff poppy protocol
Last Updated: Tuesday, November 11, 2008 | 11:43 AM MT CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2008/11/11/calgary-red-lobster-poppy.html

A Calgary restaurant has come to a compromise between allowing employees to wear Remembrance Day poppies and food safety.

Staff at a Red Lobster location in northwest Calgary must use something other than a straight pin to attach the emblem to their clothing. It's a safety precaution and not a corporate policy for the chain, said manager Rob Stilborn.

A pin fell into a customer's food last year, but the patron noticed it before starting to eat, he said.

"We'll allow them to wear it if they're secured with a staple or a safety pin or something that's actually got a securing mechanism to it," he told CBC News on Monday.

An earlier newspaper report that the restaurant banned its employees from wearing poppies created quite a stir, said Stilborn.

"I've fielded calls from guests. I just got off the phone … earlier with a [Southern Alberta Institute of Technology] student who apparently, they are organizing a petition. I talked with CNN … from the United States. Yeah, it's been quite a concern."

Stilborn said his restaurant supports the Calgary Poppy Fund and has a poppy box to collect donations at the front counter.

George Pittman, chair of the Calgary Poppy Fund, admits the poppies are easy to misplace.

"I just lost two on my drive down here, from the seatbelt on our van here, and I think it's a moneymaker for the poppy fund," he said.

Pittman said Calgary raises about $2 per person — the highest rate in the country — with the poppy fund.

Calgarians donated almost $2 million to the fund last year.

sounds like common sense prevails and all is right with the world again.... well.. at least for this problem...  ;D

Im amazed at how fast this started, and then stopped...
 
Flawed Design said:
Title of the story should be    The grandson of a Second World War veteran and proud Canadian largely over reacts at a work place saftey issue

Agreed, there is a time and place for everything including wearing of the poppy.

OWDU
 
Bass ackwards said:
It would be nice if some manufacturer of small stick-on emblems (Canadian flags, rank badges, etc) would start making a black plastic widget the size and shape of the poppy centre -but with the short pin and backing.
Such a device could be bought separately -a one time thing- from the existing poppy. You could then buy your poppy yearly -thus supporting the veterans- but discard that growing menace-to-society known as the poppy pin, with the added benefit of never having your poppy cleaned off by a seatbelt or any of the other myriad reasons why they vanish from your jacket at the first opportunity.
Anyone from CANEX reading this thread ?
   
C'mon, quit with the eye-rolling you guys - it took those highly-paid geniuses in the auto-industry a couple of decades to think up the simple idea of adding small rear doors to extended cab pickups...now they all have them.
This is an idea whose time has come  :D 

The widget you are referring to can be found at http://poppysaver.com/. I bought a couple some time ago, and it's definitely the way to go.  You still give a donation for the poppy every year, but then you simply replace the centre piece. I am not associated with the company, just a satisfied customer.
 
Thanks for that link, teltech.
It's too bad the RCL or even CANEX didn't get in on that, but I've got to give the company kudos for making the "widget" and also for encouraging ongoing support for the poppy fund on their website.
Will definitely place an order.
 
Our Legion here wasn't comfortable with "unattended" boxes as well. The situation was solved using our local Cadet corps. Boxes were placed with the CO's of the corps and we went to several local businesses and sat there in shifts. One local grocery store even offered the children snacks (which was politely declined - very grownup I might add). It was quite successful.
 
Man charged with stealing poppies
http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/539108
Nov 18, 2008 03:09 PM
Stacey Askew
Staff Reporter

Police have arrested a man for stealing poppy donation boxes containing about $2,000.

He was taken into custody today. Yesterday, police had issued an image of a man caught on tape stealing one of the boxes.

Police believe the suspect stole 17 boxes from retail store counters in the two weeks preceding Remembrance Day.

Police say, however, that the investigation is ongoing.

Regan Collings, 29, of no fixed address is charged with theft and a breach of probation.
 
..and it starts anew this year.


http://www.torontosun.com/news/columnists/mike_strobel/2009/10/23/11497396-sun.html

News Columnists / Mike Strobel
Vets fight against stupidity
It's time for Poppy Bill of Rights

By MIKE STROBEL

Last Updated: 23rd October 2009, 6:44am

Our war vets fought for our rights and freedoms. Their friends died.

But did they fight for the right to corporate stupidity?
I'm tired of veterans and their little boxes of poppies being barred, bounced, or generally abused.
Someone needs to say: Poppy sales are sacrosanct. They're a right as surely as religion, free speech and allegiance to the Leafs.

Don't mess with our vets.

The latest skirmish comes from south Scarborough, where Royal Canadian Legion Branch 13 sells 25,000 poppies in the 10 days leading up to Remembrance Day.

Its 200 members fan out from the branch at Kingston Rd. and Warden to man malls and place boxes in schools, liquor stores, coffee shops, banks and other businesses.
Usually, a poppy committee member drops by first to tee it up.

No one can remember a refusal. Until now.
A rep popped by the Scotiabank at Cedarbrae Mall as usual but this time he was told there was no place for his poppy box.

No reason. Two managers huddled, one shrugged and said no. The vet left, perplexed.
Well, old soldiers may die, but they never fade away. The snub became the talk of Branch 13.

My first call is from Al Dawson, 47. He's not a vet, but he works for Toronto Hydro and volunteers at the Legion. When the flagpole chain breaks, he swings by in a bucket truck. Or he trims the trees and hangs lights.

And he's ticked off about the poppies.
"There's a war going on and our troops are dying in Afghanistan -- and someone won't let these guys sell poppies? I was floored."

Again.

Affronts to poppies are becoming as much a part of Remembrance Day as cenotaphs and the Last Post.

Last year, security guards punted Alan Lawrence, 85, and his poppy box from the Bay tower at Yonge and Bloor. This even though Lawrence fought the Nazis and nearly died when they sank his ship.

"You've got to be joking," he told the guards.
In Montreal, a CIBC branch banned poppy sales until the outrage forced a retreat.

A spokesman said: "We took another look and we heard from our customers and we recognized we have many employees and former employees who are veterans or have veterans as members of the family."
That's bank-ese for: "Oh, brother, we wish we hadn't messed with the vets."
"Oh, brother" is right.

"We would like all Canadians to wear poppies," says Bob Butt, former Black Watch and now Legion spokesman in Ottawa.
"I kind of feel sorry for anyone who would ban them."
Why does it keep happening?
"You're in Toronto, right?" he says, drily.
Yes. So what?
"Seriously, the bigger the city, the less awareness of poppies."
So I hustle up to Cedarbrae Mall, Markham Rd. and Lawrence, to find out what Branch 13 members think about the latest snub.

"This is how it starts, and that really gets me," says Mike Priaulx, 64, the sergeant-at-arms of No. 13.
"I've seen it at other branches in recent years. Stores not letting them in or boxes getting stolen.
"Veterans may be dwindling, but this money goes to help their families, too."

Not to mention a new generation of vets being bloodied in Afghanistan.
Mike joined the navy at 17 and chased Soviet subs around the Atlantic. He and wife Sandra, 59, have been selling poppies for 24 years.

Says Sandra: "The public should know that if it wasn't for these veterans selling poppies, they wouldn't have this country. I wish politicians would stand up for them."
Amen. We need a Poppy Bill of Rights, or something. For 10 days, the Legion can sell poppies wherever the hell it wants.

At least, corporations ought to send annual memos reminding staff that poppy sales are just peachy. So there's no misunderstanding.
I suspect that was part of the problem at the Cedarbrae bank. Some manager just wasn't thinking.

Whatever, there's a quick about-face.
I drop in after talking to the vets. The brass are out, but the woman at reception makes a call, then assures me the poppies will be welcome after all.

Just as they were welcomed after the faceoffs at the Bay tower and the Montreal CIBC.
Happy endings.

It's the silliness leading up to them that must stop. Hey, don't mess with our vets.
 
RANT WARNING

Yesterday as I walked into a suburban Ottawa mall not 10 kms. from the Tomb of The Unknown Soldier and the Memorial Chamber housing the Books of Remembrance I noticed 2 signs beside each other.  One was the standard Honour Our Veterans/Lest We Forget message and the other advised that the mall was open for business as usual on November 11, or Veteran's Appreciation Day, as it has been apparently designated by mall management. 

Might as well have a third sign reading "Except for sacrificing a minute of silence (which will have minimal impact on the bottom line)  to pay homage to those we appreciate let's keep those cash registers ringing folks.  Do your duty to stimulate the economy."

What utter hypocrisy. What an insult, especially in a time of war,  to all who have served and most particularly to those who gave their all.

I for one will not be buying anything on November 11 so go ahead and lock me  up for violating anti-boycott laws -  I defy you to do so.  F*****g place is getting worse than the States with their  Memorial Day blowout sales.

RANT ENDS 
 
Lennie Gallant has a vidio/song called "a pittance in time" that reflects this issue.
 
Shec said:
I for one will not be buying anything on November 11
The only thing I will purchase on that day will be a drink, so I can toast fallen comrades.


(PS: Good Rant)
 
ajp said:
Lennie Gallant has a vidio/song called "a pittance in time" that reflects this issue.

Its actually Terry Kelly who has the song " A Pittance of Time"

EDITED TO ADD some backstory to the song...

On November 11, 1999 Terry Kelly was in a drug store in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. At 10:55 AM an announcement came over the store’s PA asking customers who would still be on the premises at 11:00 AM to give two minutes of silence in respect to the veterans who have sacrificed so much for us.


Terry was impressed with the store’s leadership role in adopting the Legion’s “two minutes of silence” initiative. He felt that the store’s contribution of educating the public to the importance of remembering was commendable.

When eleven o’clock arrived on that day, an announcement was again made asking for the “two minutes of silence” to commence. All customers, with the exception of a man who was accompanied by his young child, showed their respect.

Terry’s anger towards the father for trying to engage the store’s clerk in conversation and for setting a bad example for his child was channeled into a beautiful piece of work called, “A Pittance of Time”. Terry later recorded “A Pittance of Time” and included it on his full-length music CD, “The Power of the Dream”.

 
Old war vets I talked to didn't mind shopping on Remembrance day, they just wanted it held off until the afternoon. I used to be strongly against it until talking to them. Now I figure if they don't mind it why should I. 
 
CountDC said:
Old war vets I talked to didn't mind shopping on Remembrance day, they just wanted it held off until the afternoon. I used to be strongly against it until talking to them. Now I figure if they don't mind it why should I.
What about us Young(ish) war vets?  Have you asked us?
 
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