The Memorial Day Flowers Foundation will bring 200,000 flowers to Arlington National Cemetery to place in tribute to the nation’s fallen service members on May 23.
Additional volunteers are needed from 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. on Saturday Volunteers are also needed on Memorial Day.
“We need hundreds of additional volunteers to help place flowers throughout the cemetery to honor those who have served and died,” said Executive Director of the MDFF Ramiro Penaherrera. “This is an excellent way to honor our fallen troops and veterans for Memorial Day. It hearkens back to the historic observance of Memorial Day, when families would visit gravesites and decorate them with flowers,” said Penaherrera.
He also noted that events like this do not happen without donations and support – contributions can help place more flowers to honor fallen troops.
If volunteering, here is what you need to know:
- Sign up to volunteer at MemorialDayFlowers.org
- Bring government-issued photo identification as you will need to pass through security when entering the cemetery.
- Drink lots of water and use sunscreen. Pay attention to the weather.
- Wear comfortable shoes as you may need to walk a distance.
- Volunteers will need to come to the service complex (123 Patton Dr Building D, Fort Myer, Virginia, located on Patton Drive by section 67) on Saturday to pick up flowers and then walk to place individual flowers in front of headstones throughout the cemetery.
- When placing a flower at a headstone in tribute, pause to read the name and details. Recite the name to yourself. Place the flower in the grass in front of the headstone (where it can be mulched into the grass later when mowers come through) and not on the headstone.
- To reduce waste, please bring two or three supermarket-sized reusable shopping bags to assist with carrying flowers.
- Place flowers in sections that are not yet decorated. Allow the section 60 families to decorate recent graves in section 60, a section which includes gravesites for many who died in Iraq or Afghanistan in the Global War on Terror (as well as other war eras).
MDFF has brought flowers to Arlington National Cemetery every year since 2011 for Memorial Day.
Flowers will again be distributed on Memorial Day itself at the Welcome Center and in section 60 to families visiting the cemetery. Volunteers are also needed on Memorial Day to help distribute blowers.
You can learn more and donate at memorialdayflowers.org
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.
