OFF THE WIRE
Wreaths are laid at veterans' graves at the National Cemetery at Bushnell during the 2010 Wreaths Across America event. (Provided by U.S. Military Vets Motorcycle Club (2010))
LAKELAND | Last December, an 84-year-old widow from Lake Wales called Jack Sellers for help. Her late husband, a veteran, was buried in the National Cemetery at Bushnell, and she wanted a wreath put onto his grave for Christmas but had no way to get there.
The following Saturday, another woman and her two daughters gently laid a wreath on the man's grave, with the young mom explaining to her daughters what it meant to be a veteran.
They were among some 2,000 volunteers participating in Wreaths Across America, and the story is one of many from the project that was created to ensure the graves of veterans are remembered at Christmas.
This year, Sellers said he needs 5,000 volunteers when the group takes wreaths to the Bushnell cemetery Dec. 10. He is coordinator for one of the local sponsors, Saddle Creek Corp., and is a member of another sponsor, the U.S. Military Vets Motorcycle Club.
A Wal-Mart truck loaded with the wreaths and accompanied by volunteers will leave Saddle Creek near Lakeland and will go to the cemetery, he said. Many people also drive straight to the cemetery separately.
In 1992, Morrill Worcester, founder and owner of Worcester Wreath Company in Maine, began the program that has now become a nationwide project reaching seven national cemeteries. That year, the company made an excess of wreaths, and Worcester, recalling empty gravestones at Christmas when he visited Arlington Cemetery as a boy, had the extra wreaths placed there.
The National Cemetery at Bushnell contains about 107,000 graves of military veterans and their spouses
Sellers said coordinators concentrate first on the graves of those who died in Iraq or Afghanistan while on active duty and then go to other sections of the cemetery, especially some from World War II.
Elisa Williams, mother of Marine Sgt. Christian B. Williams of Winter Haven, who died in Iraq in 2006 and is buried at Bushnell, will be one of the speakers at a ceremony held before the wreaths are distributed and placed on the graves.
"This project really gives me the strength to carry on because of the fact that so many people care so much about the veterans," she said. "So many people I have encountered really are there because they appreciate the sacrifices people have made for this country."
Wreaths Across America, Sellers said, is a way to remember veterans and to educate younger participants about what veterans did for the nation.
Several corporations locally have helped with expenses, including Saddle Creek; Wal-Mart; IHop Restaurants, which provides coffee for the volunteers; and the U.S. Military Vets Motor Cycle Club, which provides a lot of the advance planning. Wal-Mart sends trucks to Maine to pick up the wreaths, as well as covering some of the expense of the wreaths.
"They send seven tractor-trailer trucks all over the United States with the wreaths," Sellers said. "Last year, one of the drivers looked at the manifest and saw that the wreaths he was carrying were headed for Bushnell, where his father was buried," Sellers said. "When they found out, Wal-Mart officials arranged for a wreath to be placed on his father's grave."
Wreaths are expected to arrive Dec. 7 or 8 at Saddle Creek Corp., 3010 Saddle Creek Drive, Lakeland, and the entourage, accompanied by the Patriot Riders Motorcycle Club, will leave Dec.10.
To learn more about the Wreaths Across America program, go to the website at wreathsacrossamericabushnell.com/. Donations to the national program can also be made there.
[ Bill Rufty can be reached at bill.rufty©theledger.com or 802-7523. ]
http://www.theledger.com/article/20111124/NEWS/111129576/1001/BUSINESS?Title=Wreaths-Across-America-Mark-Veterans-Graves&tc=ar
In 1992, Morrill Worcester, founder and owner of Worcester Wreath Company in Maine, began the program that has now become a nationwide project reaching seven national cemeteries. That year, the company made an excess of wreaths, and Worcester, recalling empty gravestones at Christmas when he visited Arlington Cemetery as a boy, had the extra wreaths placed there.
The National Cemetery at Bushnell contains about 107,000 graves of military veterans and their spouses
Sellers said coordinators concentrate first on the graves of those who died in Iraq or Afghanistan while on active duty and then go to other sections of the cemetery, especially some from World War II.
Elisa Williams, mother of Marine Sgt. Christian B. Williams of Winter Haven, who died in Iraq in 2006 and is buried at Bushnell, will be one of the speakers at a ceremony held before the wreaths are distributed and placed on the graves.
"This project really gives me the strength to carry on because of the fact that so many people care so much about the veterans," she said. "So many people I have encountered really are there because they appreciate the sacrifices people have made for this country."
Wreaths Across America, Sellers said, is a way to remember veterans and to educate younger participants about what veterans did for the nation.
Several corporations locally have helped with expenses, including Saddle Creek; Wal-Mart; IHop Restaurants, which provides coffee for the volunteers; and the U.S. Military Vets Motor Cycle Club, which provides a lot of the advance planning. Wal-Mart sends trucks to Maine to pick up the wreaths, as well as covering some of the expense of the wreaths.
"They send seven tractor-trailer trucks all over the United States with the wreaths," Sellers said. "Last year, one of the drivers looked at the manifest and saw that the wreaths he was carrying were headed for Bushnell, where his father was buried," Sellers said. "When they found out, Wal-Mart officials arranged for a wreath to be placed on his father's grave."
Wreaths are expected to arrive Dec. 7 or 8 at Saddle Creek Corp., 3010 Saddle Creek Drive, Lakeland, and the entourage, accompanied by the Patriot Riders Motorcycle Club, will leave Dec.10.
To learn more about the Wreaths Across America program, go to the website at wreathsacrossamericabushnell.com/. Donations to the national program can also be made there.
[ Bill Rufty can be reached at bill.rufty©theledger.com or 802-7523. ]
http://www.theledger.com/article/20111124/NEWS/111129576/1001/BUSINESS?Title=Wreaths-Across-America-Mark-Veterans-Graves&tc=ar