The Poplar Bluff Chapter of the National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution takes great pride in its mission to honor veterans who have been laid to rest.
This December, for the first time, the DAR will honor veterans laid to rest at Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Poplar Bluff. A Wreaths Across America Ceremony will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 16, at the cemetery off of South Westwood.
According to information presented at a DAR meeting this week, Wreaths Across America was started in 1992 when Worcester Wreath Co. out of Harrington, Maine, found themselves with an excess of wreaths nearing the end of the holiday season. As a young boy, Morrill Worcester had visited Arlington Cemetery, a visit that would leave a lasting impression on the young man and inspire a legacy of honoring veterans.
“This organization started out placing 5,000 wreaths, then the next year it was 105,000 wreaths and over a million last year and their goal is to get a wreath on the grave of every veteran in the United States for Christmas time,” said Brenda Yarbro, Poplar Bluff DAR treasurer and sponsorship chairman of Wreaths Across America.
She continued, “I just feel like that is such a great way to honor our veterans and the sacrifices they made for this country.
“One reason I feel so passionate about Wreaths Across America was that iconic photo of Arlington Cemetery in the snow with all of those wreaths laying on the graves.”
The local DAR organization will be calling on the assistance of the community and other area organizations like the Boy Scouts, AMVETS and the local VFW, as they have in previous years.
“Hopefully it will grow enough we can add another cemetery,” said Yarbro, “but we’re pretty ambitious with 759 graves, which is a little over $11,000.”
The cost to sponsor a wreath is $17. Any business or organization sponsoring 10 wreaths or more, according to Yarbro, will be printed in a published list in the Daily American Republic.
Karen Worcester, executive director of the non-profit Wreaths Across America, said, “Every donation and wreath sponsorship is a meaningful gift from a grateful American who knows what it means to search and sacrifice for the freedoms we all enjoy.”
The community is not only invited but encouraged to attend the December ceremony and help is still needed in the form of wreath sponsorship, as well as volunteers.
Anyone wishing to sponsor a wreath can do so on the Wreaths Across America website www.wreathsacrossamerica.org/MO0218P.