Monticello, Arkansas – Wreaths Across America (WAA) is proud to announce a local stop for the WAA Mobile Education Exhibit (MEE) national tour. The MEE started its tour at the WAA Headquarters in Maine and will be in Monticello on April 10, 2022, from noon to 4:30 p.m. for a scheduled event that is both free and open to the public. The opening ceremony will take place at 1:00 p.m., with a Vietnam Veteran recognition ceremony at 2:00. Local Boy Scouts and veterans will conduct a flag retirement ceremony at 3:00. The events will take place beside the Monticello Senior Citizens’ Center, across from the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4515. It is sponsored by the COL David Love Chapter of the National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, in partnership with the city of Monticello and local veterans’ organizations.
“The goal of the Wreaths Across America Mobile Education Exhibit is to bring community together and teach patriotism while remembering the service and sacrifice of our nation’s heroes,” said Karen Worcester, executive director, Wreaths Across America. “Over the last two years we feel this exhibit has taken on even more meaning by providing the opportunity for people to safely participate in something that is both educational and inspiring, while supporting and giving back to the communities it visits.”
The MEE achieves this goal by bringing the local community, veterans, active-duty military and their families together through interactive exhibits, short films, and shared stories. The exhibit serves as a mobile museum, educating visitors about the service and sacrifice of our nation’s heroes as well as to serve as an official ‘welcome home’ station for our nation’s Vietnam Veterans.
All veterans, active-duty military, their families, and the local community members are invited and encouraged to visit, take a tour and speak with WAA representatives and volunteers. They can also share more about the national nonprofit, and the work its volunteers do to support our heroes and their communities year-round.
The public tours for the MEE are free and open to the public with social distancing, sanitation and safety procedures in place to protect the health of all visitors in accordance with the CDCs recommendation for large gatherings stemming from concerns surrounding the pandemic. Members of the media, dignitaries, veterans and other interested groups are urged to come, ask questions, share stories and experience this one-of-a-kind exhibit.
Wreaths Across America is the non-profit organization best known for placing wreaths on veteran’s headstones at Arlington National Cemetery. However, in 2021, the organization placed more than 2.4 million sponsored veterans’ wreaths at more than 3,100 participating locations nationwide. Throughout the calendar year you can tune in to Wreaths Across America Radio, 24/7, to learn more about the mission and those who support it across the country, as well as the hundreds of local charitable efforts nationwide that are funded through the Group Sponsorship Program.
You can sponsor a veteran’s wreath anytime for $15 at www.wreathsacrossamerica.org. Each sponsorship goes toward a live, balsam wreath that will be placed on the headstone of an American hero as we endeavor to honor all veterans laid to rest at noon on Saturday, December 17, 2022, as part of National Wreaths Across America Day.
Oakland Cemetery will be a participating cemetery for the first time this holiday season. The COL David Love Chapter of the National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution will also sponsor this event.
