Volunteers sought to help place wreaths at veterans’ graves
Thanks to the community’s generosity, the Rio Colorado Republican Women’s Club received enough money in donations to purchase 1,882 wreaths for its annual remembrance ceremonies.
The wreaths, which are made from Balsam Fir, will be laid across the graves of veterans buried at the City of Yuma’s Desert Lawn Memorial Cemetery and the Sunset Vista Cemetery in the Foothills.
The ceremonies are scheduled for Saturday, and will be held at 10 a.m. at Desert Lawn and noon at Sunset Vista.
Chairwoman Winnie Moir, who coordinated the effort for the organization, said this is the most wreaths the club has purchased in the four years it has been conducting the remembrance ceremonies, and nearly twice as many than last year.
In 2018 the club was able to buy 933 wreaths. In 2017, a total of 595 wreaths were bought and 323 in 2016, the first year of the event.
“It’s awesome and I’m so excited,” Moir said. We couldn’t have done it without the community’s generosity.”
The public is invited to attend, with Moir saying that the event brings the community together to pay their respects to those who have fallen and to honor them.
Volunteers are also being sought to help place hundreds of white crosses, from which the wreaths will be hung, at each of the grave sites at Desert Lawn on Friday, and to take them down a month later.
In explaining what she needs, Moir said she needs pickup trucks and other vehicles to move the white crosses from the racks where they are kept, which is also in the cemetery’s storage lot, and taken to different areas of the lawn where they can be put in place.
Anyone interested in volunteering can contact Moir at 928-502-0238.
While Moir was extremely appreciative for all of the donations, she wanted to give a shout out to two young Marine organizations who helped out at two fundraising events last month.
At its first fundraiser, which was held Nov. 2 at Sam’s Club, the Yuma Young Marines from American Legion - H. H. Donkersley Post 19, located at 2575 S Virginia Drive, helped the organization raise $2,600.
Then on Nov. 23, during its last fundraiser, which was also held at Sam’s Club, the Territorial Young Marines from American Legion Post 56, which is located at 1490 W. 3rd St., raised another $4,700 in donations.
There are an estimated 3,000 veterans buried in cemeteries throughout Yuma County.