For the past 10 years, in the week leading up to November 11, Arthur Hughes, a retired army captain, has stationed himself at the corner of Robson and Hornby streets in downtown Vancouver collecting donations for poppies. On duty 10 hours a day, seven days a week, Mr. Hughes, 76, last year raised $16,300.50 - the most raised by any one in Canada, collecting donations for poppies.
For Mr. Hughes interacting with the people gives him the most pleasure "The best part are the vast majority of people who are very friendly. One of the interesting things about volunteering is the range of people that you meet, last year I totaled 27 different countries. You name any Country and they come by." However their are some people who don't agree with what he's doing. Mr Hughes recounts how a young man once approached him and standing completely still looked him right in the eye and said "I'm against war!" Mr Hughes laughed and said to the young man "Well what a coincidence so am I."
Mr Hughes has seen a vast array of donations in his ten years but their are two in particular which stand out the most, one the was the smallest and one the largest. "The smallest donation was two cents, but it really wasn't small to the fella who gave it because he said he didn't have a cent do is name and you could see that he didn't and so I commended him for donating as much as he could and one time a Korean business man came by and wrote a cheque on the spot of one thousand, which was quite remarkable."