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On Dec. 17, wreaths will be laid on the graves of veterans at Gerald B. H. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery, thanks to community members and local parishes' involvement with the Wreaths Across America effort.

Wreaths Across America, which started in 1992, first began shipping wreaths from Maine to Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia with the goal of setting wreaths on as many veterans' graves as possible at that U.S. military cemetery.

That first year, Morrill Worcester, founder of WAA and owner of the Worcester Wreath Company, laid 5,000 wreaths in Arlington.

From there, the project has grown. In 2014, wreaths were shipped to more than 1,000 national cemeteries; a total of 700,000 wreaths were placed to honor deceased veterans.

Wreaths were first placed at Saratoga National Cemetery eight years ago. That year, there were only seven; last year, the number topped 3,000.

This year, there will likely be even more veterans' graves graced with wreaths, with the first-time involvement of three parishes of the Albany Diocese: St. Joseph's in Scotia, Our Lady of Grace in Ballston Lake and Our Lady of the Assumption in Latham.

Grace Fay, pastoral associate for youth ministry at St. Joseph's and Our Lady of Grace, was presented with the idea by one of her catechists as a class project for faith formation students.

"When I did some research and found out the scope of what this was, I wanted to do this as a parish-wide thing," she said. Both parishes agreed to participate.

The parishes were given a code for the Wreaths Across America website, allowing parishioners to donate money for the specific cemetery they wished to honor. The two parishes will be able to donate 62 wreaths, far surpassing their goal of 40.

For the third parish, Our Lady of the Assumption in Latham, the idea was suggested to Rosemary Gavin, pastoral associate for youth ministry, by Dave Roberts. A veteran himself, Mr. Roberts is also the father of one of the parish's youth core team members.

"Dave brought it up last year, but it was too late for us to get anything started," Mrs. Gavin told The Evangelist. This year, youths at Our Lady of the Assumption decided to donate a portion of the proceeds from an annual parish wreath sale to Wreaths Across America.

At St. Joseph's and Our Lady of Grace, "the response has been really great," Ms. Fay said. "We have a number of families who have family members buried at Saratoga National."

She believes that contributing to the wreath project will be an important experience for parish youths, reminding them to pay attention to the larger community .

"They are honoring the dead, those who fight to keep us safe," she said. "Honoring our military is something that anyone can do. There is something very special about the men and women who serve."

All three parishes are trying to spread the message of respect through this effort, noting that, often, veterans do not receive the respect they deserve, especially during the holidays.

At noon on Dec. 17, there will be special remembrance ceremonies across the country to help remember deceased veterans, including a ceremony at Saratoga National Cemetery, followed by placement of the wreaths.

Ms. Fay noted that, since some of the youths will be placing wreaths on the graves of family members, this is bound to be an emotional event.

(For general information, go to www.wreathsacrossamerica.org.)[[In-content Ad]]

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