With Anzac Day nearly here the stock of poppies in a Christchurch workshop are ready to bloom.
Each year all the poppies that go out to RSAs up and down the country are made by a small team of volunteers in Christchurch.
Today the last boxes have been shipped out and the team will take a couple of well deserved weeks off.
Carolyn Livingstone has been a volunteer making Anzac Day poppies for about three years.
She started volunteering after seeing an ad asking for people to help, and was inspired by her father's time as a pilot in World War II.
Carolyn says she's proud to see the poppies on people's chests on Anzac Day.
"You see the family from all over New Zealand with them on and you sort of think 'I wonder if I made any of those'."
Carolyn Livingstone has been a volunteer for three years. Photo: RNZ / Nathan McKinnon
The poppies are made by a group of about 10 volunteers, and one part time worker. They're overseen by Brian Frances - better know as Skin ever since he joined the army at age 16.
Skin says the volunteers are key to keeping the poppies flourishing.
"Without them it really wouldn't work at all. Trying to keep costs to a minimum, the volunteers are essential."
Before Covid he says they were making about 1.2 million poppies each year, but this year the orders from RSAs were a bit lower.
Skin expects next year's orders will go up again, and he'd love to get a couple more volunteers to help with the work load.
"Anyone living sort of in the Belfast area in Christchurch who has three hours to spare a week, every week, who would like to volunteer to make poppies, we can train you up. I think we've got gaps for about three or four really special people."
This year Skin is sending out the poppies with the help of New Zealand Couriers which is covering the cost of deliveries.
The poppy production is operated by the Christchurch Memorial RSA.
Carolyn Livingstone and Brian Frances (Skin) at the poppy making machine. Photo: RNZ / Nathan McKinnon
President Dennis Mardle says this year people will need to make an extra effort to buy their poppies, as they won't be holding a street appeal.
"We looked at the situation and felt that putting our more vulnerable members at risk on the streets collecting wasn't a good approach so we declined to do a collection in the centre of the city."
Mardle says poppies will still be on sale in shops and cafes in the central city.
The funds raised are spent on the welfare needs of veterans, which could mean new glasses or finding help for someone with PTSD.
"So that requires specific treatment and it's not a quick fix, you can't give them $500 and put a new pair of glasses on their nose and it solves PTSD, it's a long ongoing process and it brings with it a large number of other issues that need to be addressed - it could be homelessness, it could be issues with anger management, it could be issues with alcohol."
He says the RSA doesn't just help older veterans.
With Defence Force crew heading out to assist with the war in Ukraine, he says it brings home that the RSA, and the support it offers, is as relevant as ever.
