President of Kern Valley Exchange Club Fred Roach (left) and Orion Sanders of Sarge’s Wreaths 4 Vets (right). Photo by Catherine Stachowiak
Orion Sanders wore one of his many hats, as founder of Sarge’s Wreaths 4 Vets, at the Kern Valley Exchange Club Thursday, November 14, at Paradise Cove Lodge.
He spoke on the topic of Wreaths Across America Day when he visited during the Veterans Appreciation Lunch.
Sanders said, “Since we’re celebrating veterans, and veterans month, and Veterans Day, I just wanted to remind everybody that December 14th we have National Wreaths Across America Day.”
Sanders said Sarge’s Wreaths 4 Vets was probably a little over 300 wreaths short of his goal of the close to 900 wreaths he needs to attain to cover all the gravestones of veterans buried at Kern River Valley Cemetery. Sanders said that there are 885 veterans buried in the cemetery if you include the six veterans buried at Cottage Grove Cemetery
He said, “If you want to come out and help us place out wreaths, or you have an organization that would like to donate towards the wreaths, I have fliers here that you can grab with all kinds of ways you can do that.”
The president of the Kern Valley Exchange Club, Fred Roach, handed a donation to Sanders for Sarge’s Wreaths 4 Vets on behalf of the club.
Sarge’s Wreaths 4 Vets has taken up the mantle fundraising for National Wreaths Across America Day, on December 14. Sanders told the Kern Valley Sun, that the cut off date for donating is in late November, which is why he’s currently pushing hard for donations.
He said, “National Wreaths Across America day is a celebration to remember and honor our veterans in our cemeteries. There are over 4200 locations around the world that participate in National Wreaths Across America day.”
Sanders said that Sarge’s Wreaths 4 Vets raises money and then purchases the wreaths. The wreaths are transported the day before the National Wreaths Across America Day. Sanders said, “We have a very short ceremony at the cemetery. And then we place wreaths on all of our veteran headstones.”
In the past American Legion Riders have given an escort, to the delivery truck, when it delivers the wreaths. Sanders said, “We have had a lot of different organizations that donate and a lot of organizations that come out to help put out wreaths. It’s a full community involvement to remember all of our deceased veterans.”
People can donate to Sarge’s Wreaths 4 Vets at this link, which can be found at Sarge’s Wreaths 4 Vets Facebook page. https://www.wreathsacrossamerica.org/pages/142961/Overview/?relatedId=0&modSw=donate
“What we really work hard to do is to ensure that every headstone gets a wreath. When we don’t raise enough funds, and we can’t purchase enough wreaths, some of those veterans don’t get remembered and honored. So the difficulty for us is, if we don’t have enough; which one do you walk past?” Sanders said, “Last year was the first year that we were able to generate enough funds to cover all the headstones on our own locally. Several years ago we did get some help from another cemetery that had some extras to help us cover. But that was someone else helping us out.”
“Sarge’s is just a way for us to remember our local heroes that are buried here. National wreaths across Day is done in every veteran cemetery across the nation and every participating public cemetery which is what we are,” he said.
