Local group receives national Southwestern Division 1st-place award

The Arrowhead Valley Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution recently won the national DAR Southwestern Division first-place award for best chapter publication for the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War.

The winning publication recounted the chapter’s three drive-thru events staged in Redlands in 2021 in partnership with the Department of Defense’s national efforts to recognize the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War. At the events, more than 160 Vietnam War-era veterans in the Inland Empire received lapel pins commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, according to a news release.

The Arrowhead Valley Chapter worked with the Redlands Veterans Committee and the Redlands Elks Lodge to conduct the events.

Aleta West and Joanne Morse, the chapter’s Service for Veterans co-chairmen, submitted the publication for the award.

The Arrowhead Valley Chapter received the award at the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution’s annual Continental Congress held July 1 in Constitution Hall at the DAR’s national headquarters in Washington, D.C.

The Arrowhead Valley Chapter is part of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, a nonprofit nonpolitical volunteer women’s service organization founded in 1890. Members are direct lineal descendants of those who supported the cause for independence in the Revolutionary War.

The chapter, which meets monthly in Redlands and includes members who live or work in the Inland Empire invites local women to research their lineage and consider membership in DAR if they are eligible.

For information about the DAR Arrowhead Valley Chapter, go to arrowheadvalley.californiadar.org.