POST FALLS — As Bob Shay accepted several $1 bills from a customer leaving Walmart, he handed him a small, red and green poppy.

“Thank you very much,” Shay said on a 33-degree Tuesday afternoon. “Have a great day.”

The man paused and looked Shay in the eye.

“There you go, sir. Thank you very much,” he said.

Shay, senior vice commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars & Auxiliary Post 3603 in Post Falls, manned his post in front of the discount store for about five hours.

He was accepting donations for the Buddy Poppy program, which raises money for veterans in need.

It's been around for decades.

"Before Memorial Day in 1922, we conducted our first poppy distribution, becoming the first veterans' organization to organize a nationwide distribution," according to the VFW website. "The poppy soon was adopted as the official memorial flower of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, as it remains today."

Lately, funds have gone to a woman in Athol who needed chimney repairs, and a veteran who lost his apartment and his job as a maintenance and property manager due to the economic impact of the coronavirus.

“We helped him to get to a new job in Great Falls, Mont.,” Shay said.

His display table under the American flag outside the store held a picture of a handsome, young Shay in Navy attire. He joined as a 17-year-old, serving overseas aboard the USS Kitty Hawk and the USS Ajax.

Shay was part of a team that went from port to port repairing ships.

That’s very different from most navies and was effective in World War II, he said.

“Our ships didn’t have to go back to home country like the Germans and Japanese to get repaired,” he said. “We had repair ships out in the field. We could repair anything.”

Shay recalls how proud he was when he joined the Navy and raised his hand to protect and defend the Constitution.

Veterans Day, Shay said, “means everything to me.”

“Nothing more proud than this day,” he said.

His collection barrel on Tuesday was filling with cash.

“People have been generous,” he said. “It’s been wonderful.”

Shay will be back in front of Walmart today, from about 10 to 4, offering the colorful poppies for donations to the veterans relief fund.

As another man left the store and handed Shay several dollars, he said, “Thank you brother. Appreciate it.”

Shay is glad to do his part.

“Returning veterans, our obligation is to remember veterans who didn’t come home and to help veterans here who have fallen on hard times. That’s our commitment to our bothers and sisters who served.”