Mount Maunganui RSA general manager Andrew Buenter (left) and treasurer Kevin Wooten have set up a text-to-donate facility for Poppy Day tomorrow. Photo: JOHN BORREN
Mount Maunganui RSA general manager Andrew Buenter (left) and treasurer Kevin Wooten have set up a text-to-donate facility for Poppy Day tomorrow. Photo: JOHN BORREN
Don't panic if it's raining tomorrow, you can still donate to Mount Maunganui RSA's Poppy Day collection from the warmth and comfort of your home.
The Mount RSA has set up a text-to-donate facility for Poppy Day for the first time.
"This time last year on Poppy Day was probablythe worst day, weather-wise, of the whole year," Mount RSA treasurer Kevin Wooten says.
"There was a mini-cyclone, it was blowing all day, it was raining all day.
"We had volunteers out on the streets and in the shopping malls and around the commercial area and there was just no-one around. Everyone stayed at home."
"All funds donated go towards financial assistance to returned servicemen. It doesn't just go into a general pot," Kevin says.
The funds raised locally are used for welfare, buying mobility scooters, hearing aids and prescription glasses for local servicemen, along with doctor's and specialist medical appointments, Kevin says.
Poppy Day is the RSA's main fundraiser for the year.
"We collect anything from $20-30,000 per year, depending on the day," Kevin says.
"And the weather," general manager Andrew Buenter adds.
Kevin says they thought this year was a good year to start.
"Because it's a bigger event with the 100-year anniversary of the Gallipoli landings, where the RSAs were formed," Kevin says.
Andrew says he's been impressed by the lead-up to Anzac Day this year.
"It's quite exciting, the momentum, when you see on the news what's happening around the country," he says.
Mount Maunganui RSA treasurer Kevin Wooten.
Andrew and Kevin say the RSA is no longer a closed shop.
"If you're not a returned serviceman or a serviceman or a family member ... [people think] you're probably not welcome, but that couldn't be further from the truth," Kevin says.
"There's a lot of clubs fallen over in the last 10 or 20 years, not just RSAs but all sorts of clubs, because they haven't been proactive and haven't changed with the times.
"And finally, RSAs are trying to do the same thing," Kevin says.
To donate, text 'RSA' in the body of a text message to 898. You'll then receive a link to a website that smartphone users can click on to donate using a credit or debit card. Alternatively, you can just go directly to the website -- www.mtrsa.co.nz and click on the Poppy Day banner.
People can continue donating until the end of April.
Mount Maunganui RSA support manager Peter Moss explains why Kiwis and Aussies honour veterans at a different time of year.
The rest of the world celebrate the equivalent to Anzac Day on Armistice Day, on the eleventh of November, the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, when [the war] finished ... New Zealand would have been part of that, with Australia," Peter says.
"[But] the ship carrying all the poppies was late, so they decided to celebrate Anzac Day instead - the day of the landing at Gallipoli.
"That's why poppies are sold here in April and everywhere else in the world in November," he says.
MOUNT RSA - It was set up in 1942, by World War I veterans to look after World War II soldiers coming back. - The Tauranga RSA was set up in 1918, under the umbrella Bay of Plenty region. - The Mount RSA split from the Bay of Plenty in 1952, becoming an independent, incorporated society. - It moved to its current location on Maunganui Road in 1969. It was previously based on Leinster Ave.
