Poppy Campaign volunteers concerned about safety after Hamilton assault

The annual Poppy Campaign is well underway, and one local Legion expects to hand out over 40,000 of the little red flowers before Remembrance Day.

There are concerns among volunteers after this weekend’s attack of a Royal Canadian Air Cadet’s commanding officer, who was supervising a poppy campaign.

Royal Canadian Legion volunteers hand out up to 21 million poppies across the country every year.

The Legion Branch 36 in Dundas distributes a small chunk of that.

“About 40,000, and actually we have a list of about 70 wreaths that we sell through the Poppy Fund, and we’ll be laying about 70 down at the Cenotaph on the 11th,” said Jim Byron, a volunteer.

WATCH MORE: Canadian Armed Forces member suffers life-altering injuries in Hamilton restaurant assault

The volunteers want to be clear, they are not selling poppies, only accepting donations.

“If you want to put in a quarter, a quarter is fine, and if you want to put in $50 — I actually had one of our veterans who got a $100 donation,” said Byron.

Bill Ralston has set up shop in the Metro grocery store in Dundas.

“Everybody is happy, they donate, take their poppies,” said Ralston. “They’ve lost their poppies, but they keep buying them anyway, or donating.”

That money goes a long way.

READ MORE: Two charged in assault that left air cadet supervisor with life-altering injuries

“We help our veterans if they’re in trouble — we’ve had vets who had no food, we helped them with that — we’ve had veterans who needed a little assistance with whatever problems that come up, we’ve helped them with that,” said Byron. “We have a service officer who does work all year long.”

However, on Sunday, a poppy campaign outside the Centre on Barton was attacked by a couple of young boys, who according to police, blew an air horn in the ears of cadets handing out poppies.

When their commanding officer confronted the boys in a nearby restaurant, he was violently assaulted and suffered life-altering injuries, and that has members of the Dundas Legion concerned for their volunteers’ safety.

“Now we’re a little more nervous about going out, and of course, most of our volunteers are not exactly young people to begin with,” said Byron.

The Dundas Legion can bring in up to $90,000 in poppy donations on a good year.

READ MORE: Local Remembrance Day ceremonies ahead of Nov. 11