“Would you wear a poppy flower in honor of our fallen veterans? Donations are not required but certainly welcomed/greatly appreciated,” was the phrase that I had to say with a smile in front of my local grocery store.
What are these little red things that I was passing out in the first place?
Wearing of the pins on Memorial Day pushes the idea that the red from the poppy represents the blood spilled on the same battlefields and that to those who fell did not die in vain.
I came to learn that the poppy flowers were spearheaded by Moina Michaels, who was inspired by Lt. Col. McCrae’s ‘In Flanders Field’ poem as representation of the veteran’s sacrifice.
These donations of buying and wearing poppy flower pins not only help veterans who are disabled and hospitalized directly, but raise awareness and respect by educating the public about the sacrifices of our local veterans and the help that they continue to need.
Last year 3.5 million poppies were distributed and helped to raise over $2 million, according to alaforveteran.org.
I understand that our generation is now in a very strange sandwich generation; not only caring about the issues of our elderly, like grandma and grandpa, but also about the kind of legacy we would leave behind for our younger generations, such as lack of clean water, pollution and extinction of our diversity.
I knew that what I learned in class about the physical decaying of the elderly didn’t stop the group of volunteers from the American Auxiliary Legion who stood by me, standing by the men on the battlefield. I really respect that.
The American Auxiliary Legion is the world’s largest women’s patriotic service organization with more than 800,000 in more than 9,000 communities nationwide.
I never realized that it was so easy to help and that all you needed to do was to show people your open hands. I believe that any volunteer is relevant and that it is the collective efforts of the few that can make such a difference to the many.
The global impact of the 9.3 million volunteer hours helps to contribute $36 million towards $3 million veterans and military families and more than $2 million to children and youth, according to alaforveteran.org
“The Legion gives out poppy flowers to the general public as a required activity for the national organization and that each poppy that is handmade by our local veterans earns them only 10 cents each,” Sandy Esslinger, an AAL volunteer, said. “These poppies are a way for them to earn a living, but if each Auxiliary unit buys from them at 16 cents each, it gives more importance to the donations that are received from the public.”
Take your time this Memorial Day Weekend to stop by your local grocery store and offer to help spread awareness for our local military families by simply wearing a handmade poppy flower in honor of our fallen veterans, from the women that have stood by their vets since day one. 100 percent of the donations go directly to helping out our local military and their families, here and overseas.
Lenna Nguyen is a CSULB student and president of the Association of Pre-Pharmacy.