VFW seeks support for Buddy Poppy program The Buddy Poppy has been a symbol of support for veterans. Since 1922, the VFW has distributed what would become the VFW “Buddy” Poppy to raise money for disabled, struggling veterans. Written By: Brainerd Dispatch | × From its inception, the Buddy Poppy Program helped the Veterans of Foreign Wars organization live up to its motto, "to honor the dead by helping the living." The Buddy Poppy, a small red flower symbolic of the bloodshed in World War I by millions of Allied soldiers in defense of freedom, was originally sold to provide relief for the people of war-devastated France.