14-11-06, 23:25
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Hi Folks,
Here's a story I enjoyed reading from the local Selkirk, Manitoba paper.
Karmen.
Quote:
Retail remembrance
Selkirk Wal-Mart observes Remembrance Day with Legion presence
By Alan MacKenzie
Monday November 20, 2006
Veteran Ray Pratt says he’s sold thousands of poppies since he was asked to set up shop at Wal-Mart.
Photo by Mark T. Buss
At this time of year poppies can be found at several stores, banks, restaurants and other public spaces throughout Selkirk. But at least one retailer wants to put more of a face on the Remembrance Day tradition.
Wal-Mart store manager Pat Litzenberger arranged to set up a display inside Selkirk’s big box store featuring a video and members of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 42 present, particularly legion member Ray O. Pratt.
Pratt, 80, was approached by Litzenberger shortly after Remembrance Day last year. Customers entering the store can meet Pratt or other legion members, including the Ladies Auxiliary, as soon as they come in. Pratt shows customers who make a donation how to correctly attach their poppy.
“One size fits all,” he said.
“I had approached Ray hoping he could do something to help me do what I want to do, which is to get the message of Remembrance Day out there,” Litzenberger said. “We enjoy our freedom we have today because of what these men did. It’s especially true now with the people who are serving in Afghanistan.”
Litzenberger added that he feels a heightened sense of duty to do something more than have “poppies at the till.”
“I have associates in my store who have either served or have family over there right now,” he noted.
Pratt said he appreciates what Litzenberger is doing, which shows that even a retail giant like Wal-Mart can help out people in a smaller community.
He said Litzenberger and the entire staff have been very helpful and accommodating.
“The staff backs me up a thousand per cent,” Pratt said, noting that some Wal-Mart employees come in on their own time to help out at the table.
Darren Foss, who works in the automotive department, served twice in Bosnia with Princess Patricia’s Light Infantry during the 1990s. He retired from the military six years ago. Several of his medals and sleeve badges are on display and his wife, Shelley, has been volunteering at the display.
“I’m very proud of my husband,” she said. “And my dad served in the Second World War, so this is very close to my heart.”
As part of the display Wal-Mart is screening a music video by Newfoundland singer/songwriter Terry Kelly. The song, A Pittance of Time, tells the true story of an incident in a Dartmouth, N.S. Shopper Drug Mart Store in which a customer refused to observe two minutes of silence in front of his son.
“It’s a very touching video,” Litzenberger said. “It captures how we all feel.”
Pratt’s wife, Diane, is a greeter at Wal-Mart. She will be laying a wreath on behalf of the store at the Remembrance Day service at the Selkirk Recreation Centre, escorted by her husband.
Litzenberger said he wants to make this display a Remembrance Day tradition at the store and bring it back every year. He and Pratt said the customer response has been overwhelming.
The display has been up at the store since Nov. 1. In the first week customers picked up more than 3,000 poppies and Pratt said over 4,000 will be sold by Remembrance Day.
“I got more hugs and handshakes in the last week than you’d care to know,” Pratt said.
Money raised from the poppy sale goes into a legion trust fund, which in turn is used to aid needy veterans as well as their spouses and children.
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