Members of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Home gathered to make poppies. The poppies, given away for donations, were to be worn to "Honor the dead by helping the living." Col. John McCrae's poem "In Flanders Field" made the red poppy a symbol of faith and hope. In the United States, the poppies made by veterans came to represent those veterans who had found homes in facilities like the Home in Sandusky, Ohio.