ANNUAL APPEAL OF R.S.A.

Southland Times, Issue 25643, 10 April 1945, Page 6

ANNUAL APPEAL OF R.S.A.

SALE OF POPPIES IN CITY A street day for the sale of poppies will be held in the city on April 20. Before that, however, there will be a house-to-house sale of poppies in the city, beginning at the end of this week. The usual social evening for women who are willing to assist in the sale of poppies will be held in the R.S.A. club rooms tomorrow night. It is hoped that this year a number of younger women will respond to the appeal for volunteer popy sellers. Some of the older women have had a very long service in this work, extending in cases over the past 20 years without a break. The sale of poppies is the only appeal that the R.S.A. makes annually to the public. The money is used to relieve cases of hardship among returned servicemen. Since the coming into force of Social Security, and of the war veterans’ pension, the number of these cases has decreased, but they have by no means entirely disappeared. It is well known that no matter how wide State benefits may be made, there are always some who are not : covered by the provisions of the law, and many cases could be quoted of returned men of the last war who would have been in difficulties had they not had help from the Poppy Day fund. DOUBLE PURPOSE SERVED

The donations made from the fund are not all on a charity basis. Some of the money is used to provide labour to keep the gardens of widows of returned servicemen in order. This work is given to returned servicemen who may be in need of a temporary job and thus the money is made to serve a double purP° se - . , r Another point is that the manufacture of the poppies keeps a number of disabled returned servicemen in steady employment throughout the year. The poppies are manufactured in Christchurch and Auckland, and a third of the money received from the sale of the poppies goes back to the factories in these cities by way of purchase money. Supplies of poppies have already meen sent to the 18 sub-associations of the Invercargill Association. Each association has its own Poppy Day fund and attends to cases of hardship in its own district, though difficult cases may be referred to the Invercargill office.