Nov 01, 2008 - 11:06 AM

By Jillian Follert

OSHAWA -- Branch 637 of the Royal Canadian Legion is typically a quiet place where veterans chat with friends over a beer or get in a game of darts.

But last week the tiny branch in north Oshawa was packed to the rafters with boxes of poppies and abuzz with activity as dozens of volunteers worked briskly to get this year's poppy campaign off the ground.

Every year, the last Friday in October marks the start of the Royal Canadian Legion's poppy campaign, a combination remembrance effort and fundraiser.

This year, the last Friday of October happens to also be the last day of the month, leaving poppy teams with fewer days than usual to get poppies into the hands of thousands of people and donations into their boxes.

Alan MacGregor, poppy chairman for branch 637, is up to the challenge.

This year he ordered 55,000 poppies on top of the 30,000 his branch has left over from last year's campaign.

"We have fewer days in the campaign this year but our volunteers work very hard," he said. "I think we'll have a good year."

Last year, branch 637 brought in $53,200 in poppy donations, up from about $44,000 the year before -- and that's in addition to the money raised by Oshawa's other legion location, Branch 43.

Campaign volunteer and branch 637 member Dorothy Benson said most people know the money raised goes back the legion but are hazy on the specifics.

"I was handing out poppies last year and a man who was a legion member gave me $20 for one and told me he had just learned where the money goes," she recalls. "He had always thought it went to the legion branches, so he and his friends could have somewhere to have a drink. I don't think many people know where the money actually goes."â?¨ Poppy proceeds are placed in trust funds with tight restrictions on spending.

Approved uses include basic needs like food, shelter and medical care for veterans and their dependents in need, low-cost housing for seniors and people with disabilities, bursaries for the children and grandchildren of veterans, and programs like drop-in centres, transportation and meals-on-wheels for seniors and veterans.

Proceeds are also used to cover the costs of the poppies themselves.

The little red flowers cost about 17 cents each to produce, which can add up quickly when orders are in the tens or hundreds of thousands. Branch 637 spent more than $6,000 buying its poppies in 2007.

In addition to the monetary cost, the poppy campaign requires volunteers to give of their time.

Mr. MacGregor said about 60 branch members volunteer each year, not bad but not great considering the branch boasts 400 members all of whom swore an oath to support the poppy campaign when they joined.

The most visible job is "tagging," which sees veterans, branch members and other volunteers -- including local cadets -- hand out poppies and solicit donations outside busy stores like Wal-Mart and the LCBO, in the weeks leading up to Remembrance Day.

"Sometimes people will dodge you, they'll go out the in door to avoid you," Mr. MacGregor chuckles. "But mostly we're well-received. People are happy to give a donation, especially when they see the veterans out there in their full military dress with their medals."

Tagging isn't the only job for poppy campaigners -- helping hands are also needed to organize poppies when they're delivered to legion branches, drop-off poppy donations boxes at stores, drive cadets to and from their tagging locations and count up the piles of change dropped in donation boxes.

This year's poppy campaign starts Friday, Oct. 31. For more information, visit www.legion.ca.