Countywide : Veterans Ready for Poppy Sale

Military veterans across the county are gearing up for the annual Memorial Day poppy drive, which offers quarter-sized paper flowers to the public for monetary donations.

The money raised between now and Memorial Day, observed May 29 this year, will go to help needy veterans. The red-and-green flowers are typically worn on the lapels of jackets or wrapped around shirt buttons.

Disabled veterans nationwide make the poppies and sell them for a dime apiece. Members of Veterans of Foreign Wars then distribute the flowers and collect donations.

“It’s our only real means of getting funds to take care of the veterans,” said Harold (Bud) Hohl, 75, a World War II veteran and commander of VFW Post 3536 in Costa Mesa. He said the post raised $1,300 last year from poppy sales.

The idea of distributing poppies to raise money dates back to 1921, when the first proceeds went to children in areas of France and Belgium devastated by World War I.

Since then, the poppies have become a customary way to honor those who served their country, and their sale is promoted with mottoes such as “Honor the dead by helping the living” and “He gave then. Will you give now?”

E. Ted Marinos, 72, also a World War II veteran, said Post 3536 bought 5,500 poppies this year and will begin distribution by setting up a poppy-filled bulletin board at Bethel Towers, a senior citizens apartment complex on West 19th Street in Costa Mesa.

The money collected by the 26 posts in Orange County will go directly to their relief funds, which make it available to those in need.

Last year, for example, after a member of the Costa Mesa post lost his home in a fire, the organization gave $1,000 to help him and his family get back on their feet, Marinos said.

“Donating money for a poppy could make a difference,” he said.