The collection tin was tied down to the tray.
Image Credit: FACEBOOK: Vernon Farmer's Market
November 12, 2019 - 1:30 PM
The Royal Canadian Legion won't be left short after Vernon Farmer's Market customers and vendors came forward and donated funds following the theft of the market's poppy box.
Vernon Farmer's Market manager Ingrid Baron told iNFOnews.ca the poppy box was stolen about an hour after the market paused for a Remembrance Day ceremony, Nov. 11.
Baron said the collection box was bolted to a basket that was tied to a table, containing a Remembrance Day wreath. At about noon, someone noticed the tin can was missed from its table at the market being held at the Greater Vernon Recreation Centre.
"I couldn't believe it," Baron said. "It made me feel horrible... it's just so low."
Baron said the market was busy at the time but still nobody witnessed the theft.
"My first impression was someone from (the Legion) must have got it," she said.
Minutes later she realized after speaking to various people, it hadn't been collected, it had been stolen.
However, the poppy box was replenished by the end of the day.
In previous years the poppy box has collected about $200 during the day-long market.
Baron announced several times throughout the afternoon that the donation tin had been stolen and customers and vendors came forward with donations,
By the end of the day around $200 had been collected for the Legion.
Baron said, whoever stole the poppy box, did not need the money more than veterans.
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News from © iNFOnews, 2019