Poppy Appeal has new virtual poppy option

ANZAC day is commemorated on 25th April, with this year’s Poppy Appeal scheduled for Friday April 16th.

Poppy Appeal street collections and online donations

Whether you wear your fabric ANZAC day poppy or share your digital poppy you can donate as follows:

• Whitianga Poppy Appeal street collections – PaperPlus, New World, Countdown, The Warehouse, Monk Street Barbershop and collection boxes at retailers throughout tow. Wear your fabric poppy
• Online Poppy Appeal donations – donate via the the RSA Poppy Appeal Givealittle page and receive a virtual poppy to display. Facebook users also have the option of a Poppy Day photo frame. Please note that funds from the Givealittle website will be directed to the National Poppy Fund or can be directed to a specific region by using the appeal QR code.

Poppy appeal theme - saluting women and the military

‘Service and Sacrifice’ is the appeal theme for 2021, recognising the role that women have played in the military. From those that serve and those who support serving military. Women have served in the New Zealand Military since World War I, as well as mothers, wives, daughters, girlfriends and others left behind to wait for the safe return of their loved ones.

The RSA website has stories and experiences from women that have been touched by military lives. The first is that of Annie Buckley who was a nursing sister in the Middle East during WWI.

Image: The first contingent of NZ Army Nursing Service nurses departing Wellington on April 8, 1915 onboard SS Rotorua

What does a Poppy mean?

Donating and wearing or sharing your virtual poppy shows your support for service personnel veterans and their families. Funds raised in the Whitianga community, stay in the community.

It’s up to you who you wear your poppy for. There may be someone you know or knew that you’d like to acknowledge. Or you can wear and display your poppy out of respect and remembrance.

ANZAC services in Whitianga

For details of Whitianga’s ANZAC services please refer to our events page links below.