The RSA’s annual Poppy Appeal to raise vital funds to support New Zealand’s 41,000 veterans and their families was launched yesterday, backed by ambassadors that include former All Black Buck Shelford, current coach Steve Hansen, and filmmaker Sir Peter Jackson.
Royal New Zealand Returned and Services (RSA) national president BJ Clark said the organisation was responding to a growing need for its support services.
It includes providing a wide range of help to the veterans and their families coping with everything from health impacts, the effects of post-traumatic stress illness (PTSI) and other conditions brought on by service, help with transitioning to civilian life or financial aid in times of hardship.
‘‘New Zealand now has 41,000 veterans — the most at any time since the end of the Second World War,’’ Mr Clark said.
‘‘Many Kiwis would be surprised to learn that nearly three quarters of those veterans served in overseas deployments since the Vietnam War.
‘‘This younger generation of veterans have to deal with many of the same life challenges of those earlier generations of service men and women but perhaps without the understanding of the public that they too had experienced some dangerous, stressful and personally distressing situations in their service for New Zealand.’’
This year there is a variety of ways for New Zealanders to make a donation throughout the week of the Poppy Appeal — its 95th running, making it New Zealand’s oldest continuously run appeal.
The appeal will again culminate in Poppy Day which this year will fall on Friday, April 21, four days before Anzac Day.
This year’s ambassadors are former soldier Tina Grant, former All Blacks captain Buck Shelford, naval reservist and singer Rebecca Nelson, actor and comedian Oscar Kightley, All Blacks coach Steven Hansen and filmmaker Sir Peter Jackson.
‘‘Poppy Day is a day we should all remember with a little bit of sadness for those we’ve lost but also a tremendous amount of pride for the commitment of these people to make our world a better place,’’ said Mr Hansen, who has personal and family connections to the services.
Mrs Grant’s husband Doug was killed in Afghanistan in 2010 and she said it was critical to care for those who had served and for their families and those left behind, as was the case with the families she dealt with in her work as liaison officer for Families of the Fallen.
‘‘Looking after our veterans and their families is at the heart of the Poppy Appeal, which is why it is so important to me,’’ she said.
‘‘I know from my own experience and those of the families I work with that there are so many things that people who have returned from service or those families affected by their family member’s time overseas that might need help with.
‘‘It’s no longer just about the older generations of soldiers either as many of our veterans now are young people not long out of service who have to make big adjustments and sometimes need a bit of a hand.
RSA chief executive Jack Steer said the longevity of the Poppy Appeal reflected New Zealand’s long service to assisting countries in times of conflict, in peace-time missions and other deployments in aid of others.
‘‘All funds collected by clubs locally are also deployed locally, providing care to those servicemen and women and their families living in your communities,’’ he said.
