Memorial Day Poppies Available at Monrovia Public Library

Get a poppy at the library and make a donation of your choice. – Courtesy photo / hobvias sudoneighm (CC BY 2.0)

Event at Live Oak Memorial Park, May 27

Memorial Day Poppies are now available at the Monrovia Library’s Circulation Desk along with a donation box for patrons to make a contribution of their choice for each poppy. The poppies are handmade by veterans as part of their therapeutic rehabilitation and 100% of donations go to help local veterans and their families.

The practice of wearing of poppies takes its origin from the WWI poem “In Flanders Fields,” written in 1915 by Canadian physician Lt. Col. John McCrae which reads:

“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
Scarce heard amid the guns below

“We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

“Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.”

The Library’s Veterans Resource Center staff and volunteers will be onsite at the Memorial Day Ceremony to be held at Live Oak Memorial Park (200 E. Duarte Road) at 10 a.m. on Monday, May 27. This event is open to the public and everyone in the community is invited to attend.

For more information, contact Mabel Cross, adult services librarian, at (626) 256-8262 or mcross@ci.monrovia.ca.us.

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