Photo: K-J Millar/Shilo Stag Media

K-J Millar
Shilo Stag Media

The 2024 annual Poppy Campaign launched in Brandon and Shilo on Oct. 25, under the direction of the local Royal Canadian Legion Ladies Auxiliary, Branch 003.

Since 1933, the Ladies Auxiliary has been the backbone of the Legion for the past 91 years, assisting with volunteer days, lunches, celebrations of life, craft sales, raffles, an upcoming Nov. 16 craft sale and the annual Poppy Campaign, Melissa Bryden, the youngest member at 40, said.

Membership is down across the Legion and in the Ladies Auxiliary for a variety of reasons and the Auxiliary wants to increase membership by appealing to a younger crowd.

In past generations, the Ladies Auxiliary had a large number of members who supported the programs that assisted returned service personnel.

They also need more volunteers for the poppy campaign tables every year. The campaign runs until Nov. 9, just before Remembrance Day.

Poppies are free, and donations are accepted. Wreaths are also for sale by contacting the Legion and can be placed on front doors, lawns during the campaign and at cenotaphs on Nov. 11.

Bryden said the ladies are a fun bunch who emanate a welcoming environment. They teach her new skills like canning, making grape jelly, baking, and catering. She said her twins come to help out, and they have “adopted” the older members as “Grammas.” The ladies have the time and love having children around to brighten their day.

They are looking for younger women with flexible schedules who can volunteer a couple of hours a week and want to support returned service personnel as well as active troops.

“We need young legs,” Maureen Farrant, president of the Auxiliary, said.
Some ladies are in their 80s and 90s, but membership in the group starts at 18.

Farrant has been volunteering with the auxiliary for 45 years and Bryden has been volunteering for less than two years.

There are currently 31 members in the Ladies Auxiliary, with 17 life members, 14 regular members, but only eight are active.

“There are less people doing more, and more people needing more,” she said.

Shilo Stag met with women of the executive, all of who have held a rotation of positions in the Ladies Auxiliary and have some ties or relationship to the Canadian Armed Forces. New volunteers do not have to have experience or be of a military family, they said.

Meetings are held on the first Tuesday of every month at 2 p.m. at the Royal Canadian Legion, 560 13th St. East.

The money that the Ladies Auxiliary raises from craft sales or the poppy campaign goes toward several community endeavours and stays within the community. These are causes such as scholarships, funds to assist local vets and families if they need it, and the Legion.

The poppy campaign is a significant fundraiser for the Auxilary to give back to veterans. Last year, the ladies raised more than $50,000 from the annual campaign that honours those who have served and are currently serving.

Bryden said more than $800 was raised in one three-hour shift at Walmart last year. However, this year, no one is available to service the tables in the evenings, and more volunteers are required for the day.

“We need taggers to sit at the tables and help with the poppy boxes from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. People can call (204) 728 5026 to arrange to pick up a poppy box. They do not have to be part of the Auxiliary or the Legion,” the ladies said.