COLUMBIA FALLS, Maine, July 08, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Since January, the Wreaths Across America (WAA) Mobile Education Exhibit (MEE) has completed 93 community events in ten states and hosted over 9,000 visitors. As a Commemorative Partner of the United States of America Vietnam War Commemoration the Ambassadors traveling on the MEE have welcomed 877 Vietnam veterans and consoled 186 surviving family members so far this year. WAA has welcomed home nearly 10,000 Vietnam War-era veterans in total since becoming a Commemorative Partner in 2012.
The mobile exhibit plans to stop in communities in fourteen states over the next six months. This schedule and planned states include:
July: Illinois, Iowa, and Maine
August: Florida and New York
September - October: Massachusetts, Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia
November: Georgia, North and South Carolina
December: Rhode Island and the annual escort to Arlington, Va.
The WAA Mobile Education Exhibit serves as a mobile museum, educating visitors about the service and sacrifice of our nation’s heroes and serving as an official ‘welcome home’ station for our nation’s Vietnam-era veterans. MEE events are free and open to the public. All community members, veterans and active-duty military and their families are encouraged to take a tour and speak with WAA Ambassadors and volunteers.
“The goal of the Wreaths Across America Mobile Education Exhibit is to bring communities together and teach about the organization’s mission while remembering the service and sacrifice of our nation’s heroes,” said Trish Gardner, MEE Manager. “The first half of 2024 has seen an incredible outpouring of support for the year-round mission and an eagerness for communities to find ways to get more involved. We are looking forward to a busy and inspiring second half of this year’s national tour.”
You can learn more about the mission in your community, sign up to volunteer or sponsor a veteran’s wreath to support the local effort anytime for $17 by visiting www.wreathsacrossamerica.org. Each sponsorship goes toward a live balsam wreath that will be placed on the headstone of an American hero as we endeavor to honor all veterans laid to rest on Saturday, December 14, 2024, as part of National Wreaths Across America Day.
# # #
About Wreaths Across America
Wreaths Across America is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded to continue and expand the annual wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery begun by Maine businessman Morrill Worcester in 1992. The organization’s yearlong mission – Remember, Honor, Teach – is carried out in part each year by coordinating wreath-laying ceremonies in December at Arlington, as well as at thousands of veterans’ cemeteries and other locations in all 50 states and beyond.
WAA National Office:
Rachael Wilson, PR Coordinator
Wreaths Across America
rwilson@wreathsacrossamerica.org
(207) 230-4599
Please visit our Media Resources Page to download background, photos, logos, or other items to help you file your story. Please credit all imagery to WAA Staff. Additional press photos and video can be available via email request at rwilson@wreathsacrossamerica.org.
See local press contacts listed above by date for interviews, or contact the national office for interviews with MEE Manager Trish Gardner at tgardner@wreathsacrossamerica.org.
Rachael Wilson Wreaths Across America (207) 230-4599 rwilson@wreathsacrossamerica.org
