Why Buddy Poppies are
Important
Since 1992, the Buddy Poppy has been an integral
part of the VFW community. As VFW's
official memorial flower, the Poppy Represents
the blood shed by American Service Members.
It reiterates that VFW will not forget their
sacrifices.
The Poppy movement was inspired by Canadian
Army Col. John McCrae's famous poem "In Flanders
Fields". Poppies were originally
distributed by the Franco-American Children's
League to benefit children in the devastated
areas of France and Belgium following WWI.
In 1992, VFW conducted a campaign and got
Poppies from France. Members soon
discovered it took too long to get the flowers
in from France and they came up with a better
idea. Disabled, hospitalized and aging
veterans could make the paper flowers and ship
them out to the members for distribution.
And so it was known, the veterans in VA
hospitals and domiciliary and in state veterans
homes, every day would be VFW Buddy Poppy Day.
These men and women assemble the Poppies, tie
them in bunches of 10 and pack them in boxes of
500, 1,000 or 2,000 for shipment to the Posts
and Ladies and Men's Auxiliaries.
VFW pays the disabled veterans for the work.
In most cases, this extra money provides
additional income for the worker to pay for the
little luxuries, which make hospital life more
tolerable.
Further more, Poppy assembly is often used as a
therapy program to provide exercise for fingers
and hands crippled by wounds, disease and the
effects of old age.
More than 2,100 children of veterans have
been, or are being cared for in the VFW National
Home in Eaton Rapids, Michigan, thanks to a
Portion of Poppy Funds.
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