What happens when you buy a red poppy from a veteran?

Buy a Buddy Poppy, help a veteran

By Carl Christophersen 
Commander, 
Blackburn-Aurora VFW Post 3348

It may be of interest to your readers to see some data on what happens to the donations they make for those red Buddy Poppies --- donations that they gave to those veterans wearing their VFW hats, who, for two days, appear twice annually just outside a few local stores e.g. Central Market, QFC & Fred Meyers (just before Veterans Day and Memorial Day).

The Buddy Poppies we buy are made by patients in the various veterans’ hospitals in the USA. The work they provide is therapy for hands and minds crippled by the ravages of war, and the pay earned provides a few simple luxuries to ease the boredom of hospital life.

In 2012, including several weeks before Christmas, my VFW Post (who meet monthly in Shoreline) donated $10,000 to several veteran support organizations whose focus is on helping disabled, needy and/or homeless veterans. These included: Compass Veterans Center in Shoreline (an affiliate of the Seattle-based Compass Housing Alliance), WA Veterans Home in Retsil, WA Soldiers Home in Orting, VFW National Home for Children and USO.