MEMORY GARDENS
has special place in Boy Scout’s heart
No county or city officials have reached out to the Imperial Valley For Veterans committee since they began restoring Memory Gardens Cemetery 10 months ago.
This has not fazed the committee, as volunteers such as Boy Scout Jeffery Abatti have played a helpful role in the cemetery’s restoration process.
The Boy Scout and his father Jeffery worked together to create over 400 flag holders, which were placed on April 9 by the headstones of veterans buried at the cemetery.
“I think it’s a great step forward having Boy Scouts involved with the cemetery. I’m excited to have the youth working alongside of us, hopefully it creates more awareness,” commented Kim Vincent, an organizer for the committee.
Jeffery’s inspiration to make the flag holders came from driving past the dirt-filled cemetery and seeing a man holding a sign that read: What About These Veterans.
“I found out there are 80plus veterans and none of them are getting recognized, so I took it upon myself and thought what else could I do,” explained Jeffery on his motivation to create the flag holders.
Compared to other local cemeteries, the Boy Scout felt veterans buried at Memory Gardens weren’t properly honored.
“They all deserve the same respect, no matter where they’re buried,” stated Jeffery, who made creating the pipes his Boy Scout leadership project.
“I’m glad that someone has finally recognized this. It’s very important that we don’t forget about any of the veterans,” said Vincent, who worked with Jeffery
to find out where each veteran’s headstone was located.
The Boy Scout and his father then created 496 flag holders using PVC quarter pipes and plastic sheets.
With the help of Josh Quintero, they used a water jet cutter to cut
the pipes down to seven inches and imprinted their scout emblem on the sheets.
After attaching the pipes and sheets together, the flag holders were then covered in special white spray that would help protect them against the sun.
With the help of scouts from Troop 4070 of Imperial, Jeffery placed the holders alongside the veteran headstones on the morning of April 9.
Although there is believe to be 80, only 72 headstones were found at the time.
The Boy Scout hopes to
use the rest of the pipes for the remaining eight veterans’ headstones and to replace any that might get damaged over time.
“It’s the first time in forever that those veterans are being honored so I hope it’s going to make a lot of people happy,” said Jeffery.