Today, as Canada marks National Flag of Canada Day, the Juno Beach Centre Association (JBCA) and Wounded Warriors Canada (WWC) are proud to announce a new partnership to raise funds for remembrance activities and mental health services for injured Veterans, First Responders and their families.
The Juno Beach Centre, located in Normandy, France, flies a Canadian flag or Maple Leaf every day to honour the 45,000 Canadians who sacrificed their lives during the Second World War. To keep these flags in acceptable conditions, they are replaced regularly at a cost to the museum.
The JBCA established the Flag Sponsorship Program in 2020 to help ensure there is always a pristine Maple Leaf flag flying at Juno Beach Centre (JBC) to honour those who landed at Juno Beach on June 6th, 1944. The program also offers supporters the opportunity to purchase a flag previously flown at the Juno Beach Centre to commemorate family members who served or to pay their respects to our Veterans.
The new partnership between the JBCA and Wounded Warriors Canada takes the Flag Sponsorship Program one step further – allowing donors to support both the JBC and Canada’s injured Veterans by purchasing a flag through this CanadaHelps form.
“One of the questions supporters often ask is whether donations go to support Veterans and their care,” said Alex Fitzgerald-Black, Executive Director of the Juno Beach Centre Association. “Commemoration and recognition have a role in positive mental health outcomes, but this subset of our Flag Sponsorship Program will enable us to respond affirmatively with absolute certainty. Wounded Warriors Canada’s work for the Veteran and First Responder Community is essential, especially as we enter the third year of the global pandemic. We are pleased to be able to support them.”
Scott Maxwell, Executive Director of Wounded Warriors Canada, commented, “Honouring and supporting the service and sacrifice of our Veterans, First Responders and their families is at the core of what we do at Wounded Warriors Canada. Our partnership with the JBCA directly supports these two important objectives and we’re extremely proud to work together to help preserve the memory of our storied military history while raising much needed funds to support the mental health needs of our Veterans and their families.”
Wounded Warriors Canada is tackling issues in the present that would have been familiar to the 1.1 million Canadian men and women who served in the Canadian armed forces during the Second World War. However, the stigmas of the time and limited access to care meant that many suffered in silence. Sadly, the Second World War generation is leaving us rapidly. The Juno Beach Centre views this partnership as a way to enhance how modern Veterans relate to the site and feel welcomed as they carry the torch of remembrance forward into the future.
To make your secure donation to support the Juno Beach Centre and Wounded Warriors Canada, proceed to the following link: https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/69797.
ABOUT THE JUNO BEACH CENTRE
The Juno Beach Centre was established in 2003 as a permanent memorial to all Canadians who were part of the Allied victory in the Second World War, and to preserve this legacy for future generations through education. The Centre in Normandy, France, pays homage to the nearly 45,000 Canadians who died during the War, of which 5,500 were killed during the Battle of Normandy and 381 on D-Day. Nearly two decades and more than 1,000,000 visitors later, the Centre has been designated a site of national historic significance to Canada. It is owned and operated by the Juno Beach Centre Association, a charitable organization based in Burlington, Ontario, Canada. To learn more, please visit www.junobeach.org.
ABOUT WOUNDED WARRIORS CANADA
Wounded Warriors Canada is a national mental health service provider offering a range of clinically facilitated programs that have been developed to support the unique needs of Veterans, First Responders and their families. Their programs support individuals, couples, spouses, surviving spouses, and children of those who serve or have served our country and communities. The organization also provides leading-edge trauma-informed workplace training geared towards helping make trauma exposure management a new professional standard for uniformed service personnel. To learn more, visit: www.woundedwarriors.ca