WINDHAM – The community effort to lay wreaths on every veteran’s grave in Windham continued on Monday, as volunteers assembled ribbons and bows at Studio Flora.
Around noon, 12 women sat around a circular table, pinning red, white and blue ribbons to the red velvet bows that will be eventually placed on the 750 wreaths purchased for the “Everlasting Gratitude” project.
Standing behind the counter, Libby Sawyer, who co-owns Studio Flora, lauded the volunteer effort.
“The project is about giving back to the community and the veterans that have given so much to us, and that is what Christmas is all about,” she said.
The Windham Historical Society and many others are attempting to raise $3,000 to cover the cost of the wreaths. They are circulating fliers, having tables at craft fairs, soliciting donations from churches, and leaving donation jars at local businesses. Donors will receive a patriotic ribbon-and-pin.
According to Windham Historical Society president and real estate broker Linda Griffin, who organized the volunteer bow-making at Studio Flora, donation jars have been placed at Colucci’s, Hall Implement, Seavey’s Appliances, The Maine Real Estate Connection, Pleasant River Properties, Puffin Stop, Windham Veterans Center, Mechanics Savings Bank, TD Bank in North Windham, People’s United Bank, Cross Insurance Agency and Thayer’s Store.
“We want the community supporting us,” Griffin said.
After the wreaths are assembled, the Windham Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 10643 and Boy Scouts Troops 805 and 51 will lay them on the graves in Windham’s 31 cemeteries on Dec. 7 and 8. The Boy Scouts will handle the large, public cemeteries, and the VFW members, as well as representatives from American Legion Post 148, will take the smaller, private cemeteries.
Dump trucks from Nathan Sawyer’s landscaping business, Sebago Gardens Landscaping, will transport the wreaths to the cemeteries. Studio Flora, Sebago Gardens, and the Little Log Cabin Montessori School will split the remaining costs associated with the wreaths.
The organizers of Everlasting Gratitude hope to leave out donation jars after the wreaths are laid, in order to collect funds for next year’s project, which may be even larger, organizers say.
Teams of volunteers working in shifts assembled dozens of ribbons on Monday at Windham’s Studio Flora/Sebago Gardens on Route 302. The ribbons will be used to decorate approximately 750 holiday wreaths that will be placed on veterans’ graves in town cemeteries in the coming weeks before Christmas. From left, Ann Jordan, Susan Simonson, Elaine Dickinson, Norma Rogers, Libby Sawyer, Loretta Towne, Karen Mitchell and June Hawkes.
June Hawkes places a completed ribbon in a box, one of about 750 that will be used to decorate Christmas wreaths to be placed on veterans’ graves in Windham.
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