Local volunteers are working hard to ensure that all veterans laid to rest at Woodlawn Cemetery (including Landess Addition) are honored this December on National Wreaths Across America Day.
This year, the ceremony, which is held simultaneously across the country at more than 2,100 participating locations, will be on Saturday, Dec. 19, 2020.
The goal is to place a live, balsam fir veteran’s wreath at the headstone of every veteran buried there and spread patriotism and ensure no one is forgotten.
So far, the Chalk Bluff Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the Revolution (NSDAR) has raised funds to sponsor 216 wreaths, but since there are over 400 veterans buried at Woodlawn. Sponsorship efforts are still underway.
It’s easy to sponsor a wreath (or several wreaths), according to organizers.
Wreaths can be sponsored for $15 each, but any donation amount is welcome.
Checks made out to Wreaths Across America can be mailed to P.O. Box 154, Campbell, MO 63933; or purchases can be made online with credit card or Pay Pal at www.WreathsAcrossAmerica.org/mo0113p. Deadline for purchases by check is Nov. 15; online purchases can be made through November 30.
“Every donation and wreath sponsorship is a meaningful gift from a grateful American who knows what it means to serve and sacrifice for the freedoms we all enjoy,” said Karen Worcester, executive director of Wreaths Across America. “We are so grateful to the community of Campbell, Missouri, for participating in our mission to Remember, Honor and Teach.”
National Wreaths Across America Day is a free, non-political event, open to all people.
For more information, to donate, or to sign up to volunteer, please visit www.WreathsAcrossAmerica.org/mo0113p. Local contact is Linda Thompson at 870-598-0083 or DNLThompson@juno.com.
Wreaths Across America is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded to continue and expand the annual wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery begun by Maine businessman Morrill Worcester in 1992. The organization’s mission – Remember, Honor, Teach – is carried out in part each year by coordinating wreath-laying ceremonies in December at Arlington, as well as at more than 1,400 veterans’ cemeteries and other locations in all 50 states and beyond.