Mayberry Investments Limited has joined fellow members of Corporate Jamaica in donating to the National Poppy Appeal in aid of vulnerable military veterans.

The company made a $300,000 cheque donation to Lieutenant Colonel Warrenton Dixon, chairman of the Jamaica Legion Poppy Appeal, during a handover at the Mayberry office recently.

Mark Berry, vice chairman of Mayberry Investments Limited, expressed the company’s pleasure in being a part of the initiative.

“We are excited to be a part of this noble because that is assisting vulnerable Jamaicans. As a nation, it is important that we demonstrate our appreciation for our ex-servicemen and women who served the security interest of the country while they were able to do so,” Berry said.

“Their service to Jamaica must be honoured and respected by providing the care they need at this stage of their lives when they are unable to care for themselves.”

Spearheaded by the Poppy Appeal arm of the Jamaica Legion, the National Poppy Drive is relaunched on the first Sunday in October each year and typically entails a flurry of activities that come to a crescendo on or about November 11 each year, the day commemorated as Remembrance or Veterans Day globally. There are, however, other initiatives of the Poppy Appeal throughout the year as efforts are made to meet the financial target established by the Governor General, the President and grand Patron of the Jamaica Legion.

This year the target is $15 million.

According to Lieutenant Colonel Warrenton Dixon, chairman of the Jamaica Legion Poppy Appeal (JLPA), the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the organisation to innovate.

“I took over chairmanship last year in the presence of this COVID-19 pandemic. Schools, where we normally distribute most of our poppies, were and still are being conducted virtually. We therefore innovated and implemented what we call ‘Poppy Patrols’. This is our second year doing Poppy Patrols across the island and what it has revealed is that we are reaching our adult population far better. So even when our schools return to normalcy, we will likely continue this and other new initiatives,” said Dixon.

Poppy Patrols saw soldiers, who were already deployed across the island, distributing poppies in various town centres while educating the public about the significance of the poppy.

The Jamaican Legion was established in 1949 to look after veterans’ affairs in Jamaica, especially, at that time, for those soldiers who were returning from World War II and needed this level of assistance. A special infirmary was established in Newport, Manchester called the Curphey Home. It underwent renovations in 2017 and continues to house Jamaica’s indigent veterans.