Editor:
We have been members of the Sechelt Legion for nearly nine years since moving to the Coast and stood among the crowds watching the ceremony at the cenotaph each November 11. But last Sunday was the first time we marched in the Remembrance Day parade and saw it all from a different perspective. I cannot tell you how proud I felt seeing the crowds watching the ceremony. I saw you all, with your children, grandchildren, supporting your aging parents, holding a loved one close, and I saw the respect wholeheartedly given to those who died, were maimed, and those who “carry the torch,” whether they be in uniform or as volunteers. Thank you, Sechelt, for renewing my faith in the goodness of human nature.
But I found myself wondering, what will we all do next year if there is no Branch 140? If, through lack of volunteers and decreasing membership, we cannot hold a Remembrance Day ceremony in downtown Sechelt? If there are too few volunteers to not only run Branch 140 on a daily basis but to administer the Poppy Fund, organize the wreaths, provide the food at the Legion after the ceremony, to offer poppies in the mall, deliver poppy boxes to stores and businesses? Or if more professionals and businesses decline our request for donations, thereby limiting our ability to help veterans, the hospital and care homes, the food bank, meals for school children, social housing, Salvation Army, homeless shelters, to name a few of the good causes that poppy donations support in our neighbourhood? Who then will carry the torch?
Please join us. We need your help.
Damien Wallbank and Rosselind Sexton, Sechelt
