Just plain, old-fashioned support

Articles like this are great to read. H/T to all involved.

Red Friday campaign catches on (subscription only)
BY LEE PALSER STAR COUNTY REPORTER

KINGSVILLE
Monica Reynolds needed no persuasion to take up the Red Friday — Support Our Troops cause started by Kingsville Legion Branch 188. Reynolds owns There’s No Place Like Home and her father and grandfather were veterans so she knows what kind of people serve in the military. The Red Friday campaign was the brainchild of Second World War
air force veteran John Mornan and is spearheaded by Carol Watson.

Since June, they’ve sold 320 T-shirts and 50 golf shirts. Half a dozen store owners in town sport them on Fridays, as do residents. More orders are coming in from as far away as Windsor, Watson said. Legion branches in Wheatley, Essex and Belle River have also placed orders. Legion members and supporters are planning a float for the annual AppleFest parade in Ruthven in the fall.

“I’d like to see even more people participating,” said the British-born Reynolds. “When they came here, I ordered one for myself, one for my husband and one for my brother. It’s important for the lads and lasses overseas to know we’re behind them.”

Some people have the wrong impression of the campaign, she said: It’s not about politics and it’s not about war. “We have to stand and support them.”

The T-shirts are being worn overseas both in Afghanistan and on the pilgrimage to Dieppe that is now underway.

Watson said her nephew is from Kingsville and a sergeant in the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry. He’s wearing his T-shirt proudly on deployment to Afghanistan.

The campaign got unanimous support from the national legion convention in Calgary, Mornan said. “I’d like to see it spread all across Canada.”

HOW TO ORDER
Shirts can be ordered by calling Watson at 519-733-6470 or the branch at 519-733-9081. Profit from the sales goes into the legion branch’s coffers to help support things like athletics and bursaries. T-shirts sell for $15, golf shirts are $25.