A small army led by Wanganui RSA Women's Section will be on the streets of the city this morning armed with boxes of poppies.
And they are hoping the people of Wanganui will take the opportunity to pick a poppy in remembrance of those who have died in armed conflict..
RSA Women's
Section member Jose Ravenwood, who has been involved with the Poppy Days for the 20 years, said the volunteers would be out from 8.30am to 4.30pm to staff the 16 city sites.
About 15,000 poppies are in this year's bunch and Women's Section members have made sure every one has a pin so Wanganui citizens are able to wear them.
The poppies can be picked with a gold coin donation.
Last year $17,500 was raised for the RSA Poppy Fund.
The fund was created to assist Returned and Services' Association men and women and their families by purchasing and servicing mobility scooters and wheelchairs, transporting veterans to specialist/hospital appointments, providing small comforts for hospital patients and resthome residents, and helping to cover doctors, dentists and eye specialists' fees and funeral expenses.
"The generosity of the Wanganui citizens is just wonderful and it gets better every year," Wanganui RSA assistant manager Kaye How said.
The Wanganui RSA Women's Section's next project is to make a wreath of poppies and rosemary for the Wanganui Cenotaph at Queens Park as well as hundreds of individual poppy and rosemary sprays of for the graves of deceased servicemen and women.
The RSA is also holding separate Anzac Day services for all of the resthomes in Wanganui catering for people who are unable to attend the dawn parade.
