A cheque for $2,202 was presented to the Cochrane Legion on Nov. 20 at the Cochrane Toyota dealership on behalf of the citizens of Alberta.
Dan Kroffat, a local philanthropist, organized a week-long campaign at the dealership to compensate for the poppy donation-box thefts that occurred in the area earlier this month.
“My motivation came from anger – I was quite angry when I read that people were stealing money from our vets,” said Kroffat at the presentation.
Kroffat launched the fundraiser on Nov. 13, asking anyone in the area to visit the dealership to make a donation to the cause.
Working in partnership with him was Calgary Stampeders’ starting running back Jon Cornish.
“When Dan approached me, I immediately [thought] we had to do something,” said Cornish who also attended the presentation.
There he announced the Calgary Stampeders will be making a donation of $5,000 to the Calgary Poppy Fund to coincide with Kroffat’s initiative.
“Who knows if we’ve covered the boxes that were stolen but at the end of the day it’s showing that the Calgary/Cochrane area will step up and do something about it,” said Cornish.
Kroffat is pleased with amount raised but says the campaign was about more than money.
“I like to see a negative turned into a positive – the negative [is] they stole the money from the veterans, the positive is it raised awareness and attention to it, which afforded us the ability to do this initiative [and] make a difference.”
Gerry Crippin, one of the veterans accepting the cheque on behalf of the Legion, knows the money will make a difference locally and nationally.
“Quite a bit of [the money] will stay [in Cochrane],” said Crippin.
“I know for a fact, [past donations] have gone to the Evergreen Manor, Big Hill Lodge, and the Bethany Care Centre.”
Alongside Crippin at the presentation were veterans and Legion members Keith Gullons and Michael Baranosky.
Moving forward, Kroffat plans to deal with the problem at the source.
“We need to find a way of stopping these thefts because [the donations] are vulnerable [in] those boxes on the counter,” said Kroffat.
“I’m in the process of working out a strategic plan so that they can’t steal the boxes in the future.”
