2020 Poppy Campaign A Success

RMR Association member assisting a citizen with her poppy donation at the Metro Grocery store in Westmount, 31 October 2020. Photo credit: Mark Lowe.

Westmount, Quebec – 26 November 2020: The challenges for the 2020 Poppy Campaign were considerable: a short campaign because of where the last Friday in October fell this year, two of three kiosk locations were unavailable due to physical distancing restrictions, and many branch members who normally give generously of their time were unable to volunteer this year due to being in a high risk category for Covid-19.

The RMR Association (Branch 14) has confirmed that despite the challenges of operating a Poppy Campaign during the Covid 19 pandemic, it still managed to raise 72% of the amount raised last year, which had been one of the best ever. Comrade Georges Gohier, the Poppy Campaign Chairman, was pleased to report the final figures and summed it up as “wow, Wow, WOW!!!”

Innovating early to adapt to the new realities imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, such as adopting newer technologies faster than they normally would have, like a ‘Tap n’ Go’ contactless payment system that accepts debit and credit cards, as well as encouraging cheques to be mailed to the branch instead of in-person donations.

Another innovation was poppybymail.ca, a website started by Comrade Colin Robinson where people could make a donation, and then he and his family mailed the donors their poppies. The site brought in 35% of the total raised by the RMR Association Poppy Campaign in 2020 and garnered a large amount of positive media coverage.

Once again, the RMR sets the standard when it comes to “adapting and overcoming”!

 

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