Boise, Idaho - Members of Veteran’s of Foreign Wars Post 63 will kickoff their annual Buddy Poppy Campaign on Friday, May 15th at 2 pm by a proclamation by Boise Mayor Bieter. The Mayor will declare at City Hall that May 15th through the 25th are Buddy Poppy Days in Boise. The annual campaign will run through Memorial Day, Monday, May 25th when VFW volunteers will distribute Buddy Poppies. Please look for VFW volunteers at stores and venues in town and give generously.
Each year around Memorial Day, Veterans of Foreign Wars members distribute millions of bright red poppies in exchange for contributions to assist disabled and hospitalized veterans. The program provides multiple benefits to the veterans and to the community. The hospitalized veterans who make the flowers are able to earn a small wage, which helps to supplement their incomes and makes them feel more self-sufficient. The physical and mental activity provides many therapeutic benefits as well. Donations are used exclusively to assist and support veterans and their families.
The poppy also reminds the community of the past sacrifices and continuing needs of our veterans. The poppy has become a nationally known and recognized symbol of sacrifice and is worn to honor the men and women who served and died for their country in all wars.
The VFW conducted its first poppy distribution before Memorial Day in 1922, becoming the first veterans' organization to organize a nationwide distribution. The poppy soon was adopted as the official memorial flower of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States.
Among all the flowers that evoke the memories and emotions of war is the red poppy, which became associated with war after the publication of a poem written by Col. John McCrae of Canada. The poem, "In Flander's Field," describes blowing red fields among the battleground of the fallen.
