Okotoks veterans will benefit from tens of thousands donated to the Royal Canadian Legion poppy fund in the period leading up to Remembrance Day.
The Okotoks branch of the legion was still counting donations Monday morning, but the poppy campaign chairperson expected the final number to be close to $75,000
“I’m moved and grateful to see that we are at, or slightly above the donations from last year,” said Maureen Haberstock. “In this economy, I think that is quite spectacular.”
She was concerned the slumping provincial economy would impact donations this year.
This was not the case.
The final tally for 2016 will exceed the more than $60,000 raised by the Okotoks branch one year ago in its first year collecting for the poppy fund.
“We were incredibly amazed last year with our first go and to equal and be slightly ahead of that this year is incredibly gratifying,” said Haberstock. “I just cannot believe the support we have in this town.”
Donations from Okotoks will remain in the community to support local veterans.
“We’ll be able to be a lot more proactive in reaching out to our veterans in the area and be able to help them financially in a much better way than we were able to do before we had our own Okotoks Legion,” said Haberstock.
She said the Legion will also be able to make a “meaningful contribution” to a local veterans monument.
Haberstock said the Veterans Food Bank partnered with the Okotoks Food Bank to have a section for veterans.
“[It] will hopefully be able to identify our local veterans that use the food bank and get them in touch with our service officer so that we can assist them in other ways,” said Haberstock.
The Turner Valley Legion branch was just starting to count donations on Monday and did not have an estimate before the Western Wheel’s press deadline on Tuesday.
Habberstock was also pleased to report no poppy boxes were stolen in Okotoks.
There was one incident in High River where a youth is facing theft charges after a poppy box was stolen at the Heritage Inn on Nov. 8. It’s believed about $50 was in the poppy box at the time. The youth cannot be named under provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
Steps have been taken at the local and provincial level to reduce theft of boxes and to make them less of a target.
Habberstock said some legions were involved in a test run at the provincial level to tie-down boxes, she said.
Okotoks was not part of the trial, but the Okotoks Legion took steps to make the boxes a less tempting target for thieves. Habberstock said cash was removed daily and the boxes were marked with a contact for merchants to call for an immediate pick up if the box was filling up quickly.
“That, to me, seems to be working very well and the merchants like it because they’re not having a lot of money sitting on their counters,” she said.
