During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic we decided that if circumstances allowed, our Branch would continue to honour our veterans and those currently serving our country by holding a Remembrance Day service and facilitating a Poppy Campaign.

The Poppy Campaign Committee began meeting in early September to begin the planning process and throughout September, October and early November amendments to our plans were made to conform with the changing landscape related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Town through a letter to the Branch supported our efforts contingent on us working with the Town’s Fire and By-Law Services staff who provided good direction and recommendations throughout the campaign. We thank Fire Chief Lymburner and his staff for their assistance.

On October 30, 2020, campaign volunteers distributed over 135 Poppy collection boxes to businesses throughout the Town while President Toni McKelvie and Comrade and veteran Lou Gaudier presented the first poppies of the campaign to Mayor Junkin and our Corporate Kick-off sponsor, Mr. Dave Chambers of Chambers Insurance.

On November 11^th, we conducted our socially distanced Remembrance Day service with limited attendance in Veterans Park. Many thanks to all service participants and to Niagara College’s staff and students from the Broadcasting-Radio, Television and Film (BRTF) program who livestreamed this year’s event, enabling everyone who elected to log-in to the livestream to participate virtually. The feedback we have received from the community about our service has been very positive.

We made our intentions known about the 2020 Poppy Campaign and Remembrance Service to the community through placement of a public service announcement in the Voice of Pelham. This announcement was included in the October 20^th edition of the Voice. A special mention and thank you to Mr. Dave Burket who sponsored  our announcement

On November 12, 2020, the volunteers who distributed the Poppy collection boxes retrieved them while other volunteers retrieved the wreaths that were placed in Peace Park, Centennial Park, the Ridgeville cenotaph and Veterans Park.

We are projecting Poppy campaign revenues in excess of $20,000, a fundraising total that exceeds our 2019 revenue by approximately 22.5%. Donations (including monies generated from the selling of Legion masks) continue to trickle in. This is a remarkable achievement given that no canvassing by our members or cadets occurred this year and some businesses were unable to accept Poppy collection boxes due to company guidelines related to the pandemic.

In closing, we would like to acknowledge and thank all the Poppy Campaign committee members and the other volunteers who gave their time to ensure that our mandate of “honouring our Veterans is our duty” continued during a very challenging time. We also thank the citizens, businesses and organizations of Pelham for responding in the manner they did in supporting both the Poppy Campaign and our Remembrance service. THANK YOU PELHAM!

With gratitude,

Branch 613 Executive

As we near the end of October, a number of the residents of Pelham have been inquiring about our plans for the annual Poppy campaign and Remembrance services. We hope that after you read this article, many if not all your questions will be answered.

Our Poppy campaign committee has been meeting regularly since the beginning of September developing our 2020 plans. It has been a challenging task given the uncertainties and concerns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. We are also working with the Town’s Fire and By-Law Services staff to ensure that our plans are consistent and align with the Town of Pelham’s
expectations related to COVID-19.

We know that in previous years in late October and early November, the citizens of Pelham have pinned a poppy to their lapels and then on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, they have paused for two minutes to honour and remember those who have served and continue to serve our country. For that, our Branch members and especially our veterans say, “thank you.”

This year, the Executive Committee of our Talbot Trail Branch has made the difficult decision to hold only one Remembrance service. This service will take place on November 11, 2020, beginning at approximately 10:45 am., in Veterans Park on Legion grounds. To all those individuals, businesses, organizations and entities that have supported the services held in Fenwick at Centennial Park; in Ridgeville at the Cenotaph and in Peace Park behind the municipal offices in prior years, we apologize that these services will not be conducted this year.

The November 11th service will look somewhat different from past years as we build the necessary safeguards into the program to protect service participants and other service attendees. Some of the measures we have adopted for this year include the elimination of the March On/March Off parade and the pre-laying of wreaths prior to the commencement of the service. While attendance at the service will be limited this year to comply with municipal, regional and provincial directives including the wearing of masks, our plans also include livestreaming the service to allow Pelham residents to participate virtually, courtesy of Niagara College’s students and staff from the Broadcasting- Radio, Television and Film (BRTF) program. The live stream link is https://livestream.com/accounts/15502389/legion613.

Our annual Poppy campaign will take place during the period of October 30 th to November 11th inclusive. We have canvassed businesses and organizations who have accepted Poppy collection boxes in previous years and we are pleased to advise that the vast majority of them have agreed to take the boxes once again. We are very grateful for their participation. For those businesses unable to accept these boxes this year, we fully understand the reasoning behind the decision. As a further precaution, you will not see active canvassing by our members, veterans and army cadets outside businesses like Sobeys, Food Basics, the LCBO and the Beer Store in 2020.

We are asking the citizens of Pelham for their continuing support of our Poppy campaign which raises funds to sustain a variety of programs and initiatives to assist veterans and their families as well as sponsoring cadet and youth programs and providing bursaries for the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of our veterans. We also make financial donations to entities like Wellspring Niagara, the Niagara Health Foundation and the Juravinski Cancer Center through our Poppy Fund. More information on the uses of the Poppy Fund can be found at www.on.legion.ca.

If you are inclined to support our campaign in 2020 without accessing the Poppy collection boxes, you can send us a cheque payable to the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 613 on or before November 11, 2020. We also accept payment at our Branch via cash, credit card or debit card. This year, you can also affect payment by using e-transfer at br613rcl@cogeco.net. Under the “comments” section, please insert “Poppy Fund donation.” Please note the best time to visit the Branch are between the hours of 12:30 pm., to 6:30 pm., Monday to Saturday inclusive.

On behalf of all our veterans and members of Branch 613, we thank you in advance for your continuing support of this very important initiative during a very challenging year. We know throughout the years, Pelham residents have always responded favourably to community-based initiatives, and we are hoping you will do so again for our Poppy campaign!

Best regards,
Members of the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 613
141 Hwy. 20 E., P.O. Box 42
Fonthill, Ontario L0S 1E0
Phone number: 905-892-6293
Email: br613rcl@cogeco.net

The Royal Canadian Legion Branch 613 Fonthill officially kicked off the Poppy Campaign today (October 30th) with the pinning of the first poppies on Mayor Marvin Junkin and Dave Chambers, Chambers Insurance Fonthill, Corporate Sponsor 2020. Doing the honours were Legion President Toni McKelvie and Veteran Lou Gaudier. Ann Molnar – Corporate Community Relations McDonalds – presented a cheque to the Poppy Campaign. In a very difficult time we will strive to fulfill our duty of Remembrance! We will Remember Them! Lest We Forget!