National Wreaths Across America Day on December 19th

National Wreaths Across America Day is held every year on December 19th. The organization is on a mission to lay a holiday wreath on every veterans grave across America. Currently 2100+ cemeteries are participating and that number continues to grow every year.

The organization works with various corporate sponsors, civic groups, school & scouting groups, local communities and everyday citizens to help generate funds to sponsor the project. You can find a lot of information about the project and the organization by visiting their website.

Last year was our first time volunteering to lay wreaths and we participated in the ceremony at Indiantown Gap National Cemetery in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. You can volunteer to lay wreaths and/or sponsor a wreath for a fallen veteran. All of this can be done through their website. It’s a great program to get involved with.

We spent several hours that day laying wreaths on graves. You carry and lay one wreath at a time to show respect. So, it does take a lot of time, walking and energy…but was really worth it! Freedom is NOT FREE and this is one way we can all pay our respect to our fallen heroes.

It was a really humbling experience and we felt honored to participate. Plus, we really learned a lot. A project this large took several days to complete so we went back 2 weeks later to see how it all came together. It was beautiful to see all of those Christmas wreaths on the graves! Thousands and thousands of wreaths!

The experience was fantastic and we’ll be participating again this year on National Wreaths Across America Day on December 19th, 2020. It’s NOT too late to get involved. You can visit the Wreaths Across America website to learn more and to see how you can help. We highly recommend it.

Note: Photos in this post are from 2019 at Indiantown Gap National Cemetery when we were there.