Rodrigo Huerta Aguirre –
For the sixth year in a row, long-time Beaches resident Margot Rockett is raising funds for her local Royal Canadian Legion branch with the sale of $10 door poppies. Her goal is to better the $5,265 she collected and donated last year, she told the bridge.
With a sore back and shoulders from crafting and folding 500 paper poppies since the summer, Rockett considers the poppies a reminder not of war but of “sacrifice for what we all have.”
While the poppies, which take about 15 to 20 minutes each to craft, are advertised for doors, they can also adorn offices, classrooms and windows.
Rockett’s father was a World War II veteran. “I don’t know what war is like. My parents did. My father did,” she said. “I know he would be very proud.”
After he passed away, she moved in to look after her mom in 2020. She started selling the poppies to support a slow Poppy Fund during the pandemic.
The following year, she caught the attention of a local cable news outlet that shared her phone number, resulting in more than ten thousand texts and calls from around the world. One message was from a Royal Canadian Legion representative in Ottawa informing her that she was required to apply for a licence and follow certain guidelines to continue selling the poppies.
As the fundraiser grew bigger each year, Rockett said there is some “selfishness” in her work. “I love to hear people sharing their stories with me about what the poppy means to them,” she said.
She encourages people to join and support their local Legion branch as she sees the poppy symbol “falling into obscurity with younger generations.”
“We can’t forget the ones that have died. We have to remember those,” she said. “We need to embrace what the term veteran means moving forward. A veteran can be your next-door neighbour who isn’t that much older than you are.”
Rockett will be selling poppies in person at the Legion Branch 1/42, at 243 Coxwell Avenue, on the afternoons of November 7 and 8. You can email her at doorpoppies@gmail.com.
The City of Toronto hosts the annual Remembrance Day ceremony on November 11 starting at 10:45 a.m. at the cenotaph in front of Old City Hall.
