Press Release:
On Dec. 16, the Wreaths Across America Day Ceremony will be held at the Western New York National Cemetery in Pembroke, on Route 77 and Indian Falls Road. The event begins at 12 p.m. with a short ceremony that includes the Presentation of Colors, National Anthem, and Ceremonial Laying of Wreaths by each military branch. Following the ceremony, family members who have loved ones buried there will be able to lay wreaths on the headstones first.
This year, there are over 1,600 headstones, with a goal to have a wreath placed on each one. If we sell more than 1,600, we are credited with wreaths for next year. The WNY National Cemetery is growing at an extraordinary rate, last year there were just 750 headstones.
The Wreaths Across Ceremony is run by the WNY National Cemetery Memorial Council. The Council is a non-profit that runs many of the events at the National Cemetery such as Memorial Day and Veterans Day ceremonies. The council also supports the honor guard and installs and maintains the Avenue of Flags. $5 from the sale of each wreath is given to the Memorial Council if purchased through the Memorial Council’s link on Wreaths Across America.
The Pembroke Veterans Outreach Club, which is a student organization at the Pembroke Jr./Sr High School is selling the wreaths on behalf of the Memorial Council. This is the third year the club has done so. Last year the club was responsible for selling or collecting donations for almost 500 wreaths!
Veterans Outreach Club members are selling them throughout the community and you can also send a check made out to the Pembroke Veterans Outreach Club for the number of wreaths you would like to purchase and the club will do the rest of the ordering for you.
The Veterans Outreach Club and Pembroke Schools also play a major role in helping the council facilitate the Wreaths Across America Day event. Beyond selling the wreaths the kids set up, stage the wreaths, pass them out, direct participants to the proper rows, clean up, and help break down the event.
They later collect the wreaths at the end of the season. It is truly a community-wide event. Last year there were well over a hundred and fifty attendees helping to lay wreaths on our veterans' headstones. Local fire departments help with parking, sheriff's work traffic control, and the Pembroke bus garage shuttles attendees to different sections of the cemetery.
The Veterans Outreach Club is led by Junior Club President Lilly Senko. Lilly has been an active member since 7th grade. She had led many of our club activities including, dinners with the Eagle Star House, collection drives, patriotic activities with the elementary school, an opening ceremony for Pembroke Veterans Wall of Honor, helping run the Purple Heart ceremony, and helping to coordinate our club's recent trip to Alaska. Lilly is also a talented artist who designed our Alaska trip t-shirts. Lilly will play a major role in organizing this year's Wreaths Across America Day events.
We would truly appreciate your support for both honoring our local veterans during the holiday season and helping support the good work of the WNY Memorial Council. Your purchase of a wreath through the Memorial Council will do both! Wreaths are $17 and can be purchased through:
- The Council link at www.wreathsacrossamerica.org/ny0368p
- Checks, made out to the Pembroke Veterans Outreach Club, mailed to - Pembroke Jr./Sr. High, P.O. BOX 308, Corfu, NY 14036.
We hope to see you at Wreath Across America at 12 p.m. on Dec. 16.
