It’s an annual tradition that the mayor receives the first poppy of the year, but at the ceremony this year there were a lot of firsts involved — with Penticton Legion president Murray Grandy and Mayor Dan Ashton both participating in the ceremony for the first time.

The official poppy presentation marks the start of the Royal Canadian Legion’s annual poppy drive. Already Legion members are circulating through the community with their trays of poppies and little red plastic flowers are blossoming on lapels.

The annual campaign, which runs until Remembrance Day on Nov. 11, fulfills two roles, educating people about the price of freedom as well as helping veterans.

Purchasing one of the little red poppies serves as a way to remember all those who have served Canada in wars, in peacekeeping and other military operations. But beyond showing respect for those sacrifices, the poppy is also a chance to directly support veterans in the community.

All the money raised from poppy sales stays in the community, according to Grandy, and is earmarked for supporting veterans and their families.

The money is used for emergency assistance for veterans as well as for shelter, food and special medical needs and for transportation of veterans to medical appointments. The money has been used for purchasing wheelchair or other assistive devices — anything needed that isn’t funded by Veterans Affairs or through other seniors programs.

It’s sometimes even used for home improvements, ensuring that a veteran on a limited income can remain comfortable in their home.

“Not long ago, we helped replace a furnace in a home,” said Grandy.

The association of the poppy with war traces back to the Napoleonic Wars, when it was noticed how quickly the flower sprung up in land disturbed by the tumult of war. But for most Canadians, the connection traces back to a poem written by a Canadian medical officer, Lt.-Col. John McCrae, serving in Ypres during the First World War.

In Flander’s Fields graphically describes the blood-red flower growing on the graves of the fallen. That poem, written by McCrae after the burial of a friend, was the inspiration for an international movement that saw the poppy adopted as a symbol of remembrance, including in Canada, where the Great War Veterans’ Association officially adopted it in 1921.