Eagles on the roof of our son's barn on Veteran's Day, 2023.

Last week, I stopped by a table in front of the grocery store and greeted a couple of veterans who were selling poppies. I slipped a few dollars into their donation canister and thanked them for their service. They gave me a paper poppy to wear. At the time I wondered about the poppy. Having a place to donate to support veterans organizations seemed to be in place during the week before Veterans’ Day, but somehow I have associated poppies with Memorial Day in the spring.

I remember a time when our cub scout den made poppies for veterans to sell. The “poppies” were small strips of crepe paper, about an inch long, tied in the middle with a thin piece of wire. I think that we made them for Memorial Day. Our town had a parade for Memorial Day and I remember people wearing poppies in their lapels. At the meeting where we made the poppies a veteran of World War I came to talk to our den. I don’t remember a lot about him, though we lived in a small town and we all knew him before he came to the meeting. He was old - the age of our grandparents. My father had served in the Army Air Corps during World War II. My best friend’s father was in the US Navy in the years after the war. But a World War I veteran was of a different generation. I can’t remember if that was the first time I heard the poem, “In Flanders Fields.” Somehow in my mind the World War I veteran either told us the story of Flanders Fields, or read or recited the poem:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
scares heard amid the guns below.

My memory is quite fuzzy on the session, and I may not have all of the details correct. After all, it was more than 60 years ago. I think that the poppies were given out in exchange for donations to either the American Legion or Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Right now the Veterans of Foreign Wars is one of the organizations that did not receive a donation in response to their most recent appeal I received in the mail. I get a lot of solicitations in the mail. I guess that there is some marketing firm somewhere that specializes in soliciting donations that doesn’t know that I already have a pile of address labels that contains more than I can possibly use in the rest of my life. We do make donations to various nonprofit groups from time to time and I’ve been known to read all of the solicitations.

Our major charitable gifts, however, are planned. We pledge to our church each year and in previous years we have paid our pledge through monthly automatic deductions from our checking account. Today we will be returning our pledge card to our church for next year’s ministries and for the first time will pledge an annual amount to be paid from the distribution from Susan’s IRA. She is a little older than I and will have to take a mandatory withdrawal this year. As a result, it is to our tax advantage to pay our pledge directly from the IRA.

We also have been making an annual gift to the Mount Vernon Library Foundation in support of their building project. It is a truly amazing project and we are more than a little proud that our son is the director of the Mount Vernon Library.

We make other gifts. We support special offerings at our church. We respond to local nonprofits who have special projects. We participate in national groups whose causes align with our values and beliefs. Most of those gifts are fairly small. But the word has gotten out that we do make donations. At least I think it has. Because we receive a lot of appeals.

One of the things that makes my shy away from giving to organizations is the success of their fundraising. One children’s hospital, for example, has more income from their endowment than their annual operating budget. It could literally operate without any additional donations. And yet its endowment continues to grow at a more rapid pace than the services offered by the hospital. I have nothing against the hospital. I just feel that they can get along without my support and I will direct my limited funds elsewhere.

Another thing that affects my donations - the thing that has the Veterans of Foreign Wars on my list at present - is when an organization sends me unsolicited gifts that exceed the value of my donation. I don’t need any more address labels, but I understand how they can be produced at low cost. But the last appeal I received from the Veterans of Foreign Wars included three pens, a pocket multitool, a letter opener, a small stack of greeting cards with envelopes and, of course, address labels. I have no idea how many of those packages they sent out and I have no idea how much it cost to send each one. I suspect, however, that they received a net gain on the investment. Enough people send enough donations that exceeded the value of the items sent out to make it a net gain. I get that. On the other hand, if the things they sent me cost them three or four dollars, that is three or four dollars less they have to operate their organization. Instead of inspiring me to give, the extravagance makes me want to direct my money elsewhere.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars isn’t the only organization that sends me appeals that contain “gifts” of things I don’t want or need. I’ve received similar appeals from other organizations.

It is appropriate for me to honor the memories of veterans, their sacrifices and service, on Veterans Day weekend. I’m just not doing it with a donation to the Veterans of Foreign Wars this year. I have my poppy. That is enough. I don’t need all of the other stuff.

More importantly, I have my memories of veterans whose lives have touched and inspired mine. My gratitude is real even when I don’t return a check in the postage paid envelope.