Nova Scotian woman, Brynn Blais, collecting Christmas for Veterans donations

A handwritten note on the wall of the Waverley Legion piqued Brynn Blais’s interest to help collect Christmas donations for veterans.

The campaign is called Christmas for Veterans and donations are being collected at the Waverley legion.

“They were looking for help for some veterans who may not have any family in our community at the Camp Hill [Veterans Memorial Building] hospital and wanted to make their Christmas a little bit brighter,” said Blais.

Motivated by the wall posting, Blais posted on her Facebook wall that she would be collecting materials for the campaign from Nov. 10 until Nov. 18. She said the response has been so good she decided to continue collecting materials until Dec. 4.

Tara MacDonald was one of the people who donated to Blais. She says our veterans have served our country and deserve recognition. She even asked if Blais was going to do a year-round campaign.

Ria Digout, secretary of the Waverley Legion branch, says Blais has given the biggest donation so far.

Blais says the best part of doing the fundraiser was being reminded that people in the community are good and care.

“Every time I see a new package or a new Facebook message of people wanting to help, it warms my heart,” she said.

The legion itself is not running the campaign. Rather, a coffee club that meets there every Tuesday and Thursday is carrying it out.

Grace Walker, vice-president of the Waverley Legion, said it’s the first year the coffee group has run the campaign and the response has been great.

Before Blais’s donation, the legion was only receiving a limited number of donations.

“It’s mainly been people of the coffee hour that have [donated],” said Digout.

The Christmas for Veterans campaign was supposed to go until Dec. 4, but it has been extended until Dec. 10.