Lakelands Cemeteries are official locations for 2021 National Wreaths Across America Day
August 17, 2021
National nonprofit Wreaths Across America (WAA) has announced that Edgewood, Evening Star and Oakbrook cemeteries in Greenwood, S.C., will be joining its efforts to support the mission to “Remember, Honor, Teach” as official locations for 2021. This is the first year that these cemeteries will participate in the nationwide Wreaths Across America Day on Saturday, Dec. 18.
The Mount Ariel Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution is the sponsor for bringing Wreaths Across America to Greenwood.
“It is a great honor for the Mount Ariel Chapter to be a partner with Wreaths Across America and recognize the great men and women in the Lakelands whose sacrifices and courage have preserved our nation’s freedoms,” said Helen Nazzaro, regent of the Mount Ariel Chapter.
“My goal, and the goal of the committee, is to unify our community in these turbulent times by coming together for a common cause. Grief and loss span every aspect of society,” Nazzaro said. “Honoring veteran loved ones who have died is a central truth that can unite us while allowing us to honor our shared history of defending our country. Achieving this goal is one of the reasons we reached out to multiple cemeteries our first year.”
The cost to sponsor a wreath is $15. Each sponsorship goes toward a fresh balsam wreath, adorned with a red bow, which will be placed on the headstone of an American hero to honor veterans laid to rest at Edgewood, Evening Star and Oakbrook cemeteries.
For more information or to sponsor a wreath, visit www.wreathsacrossamerica.org/SC0214P. Visit https://www.facebook.com/Greenwood-Wreaths-Across-America-109599631430106 for ongoing updates from the Mount Ariel Chapter, DAR, about WAA in Greenwood.
A ceremony beginning at noon Saturday, Dec. 18, at Oakbrook Cemetery will honor the area’s veterans before the laying of wreaths. The free, non-political, community event is open to all people.
WAA started as a simple gesture of thanks that has grown into a national movement of dedicated volunteers and communities coming together to not only remember the nation’s fallen and honor their service, but to teach the next generation about the sacrifices made for us to live freely. WAA anticipates there will be more than 2,500 participating locations and more than two million volunteers participating in the 2021 program.
The goal for Greenwood is to raise enough funds to place approximately 700 veterans’ wreaths on the headstones of all the local heroes laid to rest in these cemeteries, to ensure that the individuals who served to protect the freedoms of our country never be forgotten and to bring the community together in patriotic commemoration.
About Wreaths Across America
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 thousands of veterans’ cemeteries and other locations in all 50 states and beyond.
