are usually not available until the last Friday of October, but the deaths of two soldiers this week have prompted a push to start wearing them sooner.
"A lot of people are wanting to make extra donations this year in light of what happened yesterday and wanting to have poppies earlier than the end of next week," 's Stacy Hammel told CTV Calgary Thursday.
Hammel spent the day answering queries about when the poppy campaign would start this year. One of the donors who stopped by her office was Matthew Puzys, who dropped off nearly $1,000 in cash that he and his car club raised over the past few months.
"It's a terrible, terrible thing. It's too bad if it takes something like this for Canadians to rally around veterans, but it's important to be doing that now more than ever," he told CTV Calgary.
Joey Bleviss works alongside Hammel and echoed her comments about people wanting to show their support now.
"People are feeling a little bit more sympathetic and empathetic and they would like to start early, but unfortunately that's not my call," he told CTV Calgary.
The Calgary Poppy Fund has 800,000 poppies on hand in boxes ready to be shipped, but the Dominion Command of the Royal Canadian Legion in Ottawa determines the start date of the campaign and they have no plans to change it this year.
Bill Maxwell, senior program officer and secretary of the poppy and remembrance committee for the Royal Canadian Legion Dominion Command said it's a matter of logistics.
"The national campaign is branch focussed with inventory being shipped. It's not just a case of opening the doors," Maxwell told CTVNews.ca. "We can understand a lot of people want to show their respect and commemoration for our soldiers."
Maxwell added that poppies can be worn any time of year, it just isn't possible for this year's public distribution campaign to get going ahead of schedule. However, Canadians can pick up a pin from a legion branch or a Poppy Fund location if they are available.
It isn't only Calgary residents making the push. Toronto radio station Indie 88 is among the voices publicly calling for the pins to be made available sooner than usual.
Fallen soldiers are top of mind almost three weeks before Remembrance Day this year because two Canadian armed forces members have been killed on the home front. Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent, a 28-year military veteran, was struck and killed in a Quebec parking lot Monday. Two days later, Cpl. Nathan Cirillo was shot and killed while standing guard at the National War Memorial.
Across Canada 18 million poppies are distributed each year. And some people including politicians and Toronto mayoral candidates have already started wearing them.
Bleviss and Hammel have a goal of raising $2 million this year, but believe they will surpass that number.
"Given the circumstances, I'm sure we will," Bleviss said.
With files from CTV Calgary's Bill Marks
