The Editor,
Our veterans, who deserve our respect and total thanks, have a small window of opportunity to collect money for their annual poppy drive. This weekend, I went grocery shopping at a large chain store and I was more than a little upset and angry at the poor judgment and lack of respect displayed by this store.
The elderly gentleman and a young female cadet, who were collecting for the drive, were forced to compete with not three other charity drives.
The store was collecting at the checkout for a children’s cause, there was a local football team soliciting funds inside the store and, just outside the doors, a table was set up, staffed by at least a dozen young people who were selling boxes of donuts for $10 in support of some obscure refugee fund.
I have nothing against these other charity drives and I am sure they deserve the public’s support, just as much as the hundreds of other charities, but there is a time and place. Veterans and the moral obligation to the spirit of Remembrance Day deserve more than lip service; they deserve actions that demonstrate our support.
What really upset me was the fact that this was adding insult to injury in light of the fact that earlier in the week, at this very location, some lowlife stole the collection tin from one of the veterans.
Neil Swanson, Coquitlam
