New Hamburg Legion’s lead-up to Remembrance season is already well underway

Legion volunteers work countless hours to prepare for Poppy Campaign and Remembrance Day

New Hamburg Legion poppy committee members Ross Eichler, Bob Berg and Gail McMullen pack poppy boxes at the Legion. Galen Simmons photo

Galen Simmons, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Though they don’t talk about it much, the amount of work that goes into planning the annual Poppy Campaign and Remembrance Day ceremony for Wilmot Township by volunteers at the New Hamburg Legion is above and beyond what one might think.

Each year, Remembrance season officially begins on the last Friday of October which, this year, falls on Oct. 31, the day Wilmot Township will raise the Poppy Flag and the day poppy boxes start appearing on the front counters at local businesses, schools and institutions.

“On Oct. 31, there will be people going all over to the deliver the boxes to the retail outlets, schools and other places in town,” said Bob Berg, the Legion’s Poppy Campaign chair.

“There’s 96 boxes,” added Gail McMullen, a member of the Legion poppy committee. “And then we take 8,200 mailers to the four post offices … in Wilmot and Wellesley.”

But before that happens, Legion volunteers work over the course of two months, starting in August, to ensure poppy boxes go to the right places and thousands of envelopes are stuffed with mailers inviting locals in Wilmot and Wellesley townships to donate to the annual fundraising campaign in support of the local Legion and the veterans it serves.

As poppy chair, Berg is responsible for digging out last year’s leftover poppies, ordering new ones and contacting each of the businesses, schools and institutions that receive them to confirm the number of poppies they need this year. That includes both the regular poppy pins that have become a symbol of Remembrance over the years, as well as poppy stickers for younger students.

Then, the team of five volunteers works to fill each poppy box, meticulously ensuring each poppy is face up so those who go to grab one don’t get pricked. Those volunteers are also responsible for stuffing envelopes with the mailers, which can take as long as four to five hours, if not more, over the course of a Sunday afternoon.

Between packing the boxes, delivering those boxes locally, monitoring them regularly throughout Remembrance season to ensure the change compartments don’t get too full and the poppies aren’t depleted, and then picking up those boxes and carefully tallying the money raised from each location after the campaign ends, the volunteers devote countless hours all in the name of honouring, remembering and supporting our veterans.

As for the Remembrance Day event itself, which begins at the New Hamburg cenotaph and continues with the official service at the New Hamburg Arena on Nov. 11, the Legion volunteers work closely with Wilmot Township staff, volunteers, police and fire officials, and all of the local and regional dignitaries who will be involved, to have each detail in order – from the parade route and the layout of the stage and chairs inside the arena to the luncheon at the Legion afterwards – so everyone is where they need to be at 11 a.m. when the bugler plays “Last Post.”

And for all that work, the Legion volunteers ask only one thing.

“Wear a poppy,” Berg said. “That’s all we’re asking for.”

Berg and his poppy committee are still looking for volunteers to help with setup and takedown for this year’s Remembrance Day event. Anyone interested in helping can contact Berg at rwbergy@gmail.com for more information.