(Editor's Note: This article was published first in the January/February 2023 print edition of The Stand.)
“What people seemed to want more than anything was for us to remember, honor, and teach,” Karen Worcester, executive director of Wreaths Across America (WAA), told The Stand. Her remarks referred to a surprising and unexpected opportunity she and her family found after a family tradition of laying memorial wreaths became a national movement spanning 30 years. In December, The Stand reported on the moving ceremonies people can participate in with WAA. But the organization offers much more than annual wreath-laying opportunities.
WAA’s mission – Remember, Honor, and Teach – is accomplished by various means throughout the year.
Education curriculum
WAA offers a selection of educational resources to assist in ensuring that current and future generations are aware of the price paid for their freedoms.
“Our curriculum has been vastly upgraded this year [2022],” Worcester said. “We’re so fortunate to have Gold Star mother and retired teacher Cindy Tatum to become our curriculum developer.”
Tatum became a Gold Star mother December 24, 2007, when her son, Marine Cpl. Daniel Tatum, was killed in an accident outside Camp Pendleton in San Diego, California.
“We didn’t try and reinvent the wheel,” Worcester said. “We decided to work with other like-minded organizations that share goals common to ours.”
She explained that Tatum pulls together curriculum from various patriotic and veteran-minded organizations, such as the Vietnam Commemorative, the Gary Sinise Foundation, and the Medal of Honor Society.
Resources are available for grades K-12, and all are completely free to download.
Remembrance tree program
On the Worcester land from which the balsam tips are harvested for wreaths, family or friends of a fallen soldier can choose a tree to become a living memorial to their loved one. To identify the tree as belonging to a particular service member, a dog tag is placed on the tree. Fittingly, when the balsam tips are harvested, they will be used to make wreaths that will then be shipped out to memorialize another fallen service member during the annual commemoration.
“We created the Remembrance Tree Program because we wanted to find a way to recognize veterans and their families in a more permanent way,” Worcester said. “This endless forest is a truly visual representation of our unwavering commitment to our mission and to recognize our veterans and families … for many years to come.”
State House ceremonies
Serving as somewhat of a kickoff to a weeklong series of events centered on raising awareness and appreciation for the sacrifices of veterans and their families, WAA State House Ceremonies are held in nearly every state and Washington, D.C.
Special guests are invited to speak in honor of active military, those with prior service, and fallen service members. The ceremonies are led by volunteers and held in their respective state capitols on the Monday prior to the wreath-laying event each December.
Mobile education exhibit
The WAA team stands ready to hit the road with a 48-foot tractor-trailer exhibit equipped with a 24-person screening room, interactive computers, and other means that highlight their resources, share stories of love of country and patriotism, and continue their mission: Remember, Honor, and Teach.
Additionally, WAA produces WAA Radio with live morning shows, special programming, and patriotic music. A small museum at the Columbia Falls, Maine, headquarters displays military memorabilia donated over the years to share stories and detail experiences of U.S. service members.
Learn more at wreathsacrossamerica.org.
