Donations continue to help Regina’s Legion branch

Regina residents continue to step up for the Royal Canadian Legion’s poppy campaign.

On Wednesday’s Greg Morgan Morning Show, Ron Hitchcock — the president of the Regina branch of the Royal Canadian Legion — reported that poppy boxes had been stolen from a number of locations around the city.

On Friday’s show, Hitchcock said more than $1,300 has been donated since the news of the thefts broke.

“This is a wonderful thing,” he said. “I’ve also checked in with (the Regina Police Service) and they’re asking businesses that were affected to send in a copy of the video and they will proceed with the file.”

To illustrate that, Hitchcock noted that Regina Crime Stoppers had shared a photo with the Legion of a woman whom police believe took one of the boxes.

“I see we’ve had one lucky contestant on our Facebook page already,” Hitchcock said. “We’ll put all of them up there for people to recognize.”

Donations can be made to the poppy campaign on the Legion’s website and Facebook page.

The Legion uses the poppy campaign to raise funds for the care of veterans and their families.

As recently as 2018, the Regina branch has had financial issues, but Hitchcock said Friday that the branch is “still in the black.”

“We’re looking toward our next big thing (which) is our run in April,” Hitchcock said, referring to the YQR VetRun. “The money from that will go towards veterans as well …

“There’s more and more need for funds. There’s something like 17,000 veterans in the province. I’m not sure the demographics of the age of those, but they keep coming.”

According to Hitchcock, that number includes seven homeless veterans in Regina.

“I just heard that from our service officer,” he said. “We’re trying to find them and help them.”