In a secret location in the back room of a building in Maple Ridge, the shutters are closed and the self-proclaimed Poppy Princesses are hard at work.
Armed only with a coin counter, the women sit and count, for hours, the money coming in from the Royal Canadian Legion’s poppy campaign.
Helen Sullivan, 86, has been a volunteer with the legion’s poppy campaign for two decades now.
She started off delivering poppies – by foot – to the local businesses in town, before becoming a counter.
Sullivan recalled the days before the coin counter, when all the coins had to be counted manually.
In those days donations were put into cans and to get the money out of those cans, said Sullivan, was a hassle as they had to use can openers.
“You had Band-Aids on all your fingers from all the cans,” quipped one of the princesses with a laugh.
Bobbie Rylands started counting with the poppy campaign in 2013, and noted how generous the community is.
“It’s absolutely amazing,” said the 76 year old, adding that every year, despite any hardships, residents of Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows always exceed expectations with donations.
Gloria Frey is always counting on her birthday and wouldn’t have it any other way. Frey turned 79 while counting donations on Tuesday, Nov. 4.
She started in 2018 with the poppy campaign as she needed something to occupy her time.
Finally the baby of the Poppy Princesses, Des Mainardi, 68, started tagging with the campaign before joining the group of counters in 2020.
Sullivan noted the best part of counting is camaraderie between the four of them.
And the other princesses agree.
“We have a heck of a lot of fun doing this, even though it is a big, big job,” added Rylands.
The Remembrance Day poppy campaign kicked off in Maple Ridge with the presentation of the first poppy to Mayor Dan Ruimy from Judy Ballard, past president of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 88 in Maple Ridge, on Tuesday, Oct. 21, at city hall.
Pitt Meadows Mayor Nicole MacDonald accepted the first poppy during a presentation at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 5.
New this year are poppy campaign chairs Brenda and Patrick Donoghue, who have been trying to fill 525 tagging shifts across Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows.
Hundreds of those shifts still need to be filled.
Legion Branch 88 in Maple Ridge is the largest legion in Canada with more than 2,000 members, explained branch administrator Kathy Gallagher.
Last year the poppy campaign raised a little more than $79,500, money, which went to initiatives supported by the Royal Canadian Legion, such as emergency veteran help; the annual veterans dinner; legion service dogs; veteran care homes; bursaries for veteran children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren; the cadet corps; and community hospitals and care facilities.
Anyone interested in volunteering two hours of their time for a tagging shift can email: poppy@mapleridgelegion.ca.