LEWISTON – When Maine wreath-makers and veterans’ groups honor U.S. veterans in Arlington National Cemetery next Saturday, they’ll be taking the handiwork of a group of the city’s newest residents with them.

Worcester Wreaths, a Harrington-based wreath-maker, relied on local Somalis to help make more than 100,000 holiday wreaths.

It’s an enterprise that began in 2007 when the company had a difficult time finding workers. The solution was to hire 45 Somali immigrants and set them to work in the Pepperell Mill on Lisbon Street.

The Down East company nearly doubled the size of its Lewiston operation this year, hiring 80 Lewiston residents at an average hourly rate of $9.

The workers have been busy since Nov. 1 building wreaths destined for veterans’ graves. They’re scheduled to wrap up the work next week, but company founder Morrill Worcester said they would be back next year.

“We’d love to continue growing in Lewiston,” he said. “It’s a very good relationship. They’re hard workers, very conscientious and very religious. We’re very lucky to have them.”

It’s been a success for the workers as well, according to Asmo Dol, a cultural skills trainer at Catholic Charities Maine. The agency worked with the wreath-maker to bring the operation to Lewiston.

“It’s good money for the refugees, and they really want to work,” Dol said. “Many of them have never been able to have a job in the U.S. before, but this helps them. It gives them something they can put on their job application now.”

Ismail Abdi, 45, is one of the workers. With Dol acting as his translator, Abdi said he’d had a hard time finding work because he doesn’t speak English. He’s taking classes to learn the language, and he wants to work.

“I have to work, and I feel like I’ll be dead if I don’t,” Abdi said.

Dol said the jobs were not limited to refugees, but were offered to many long-time residents as well.

“So this is a situation where having refugees actually brought jobs to Lewiston,” she said. “We’re very happy with the way it’s all worked out.”

Wreaths for vets

Worcester has been in the wreath-making business since 1971. It donated 5,000 wreaths for Arlington National Cemetery in 1981, and has been doing it ever since.

“It’s something we do to honor our veterans,” Worcester said. “It’s gotten bigger and bigger every year, and I like that. I like that there’s more awareness about what our veterans have done for us.”

The first 13 years, only a few people knew about it, he said. “We’d just go down quietly and leave our wreaths and come back home.”

A Pentagon photographer came across Worcester and some volunteers in 2005, capturing a picture of the green wreaths against snow and white tombstones.

“It just kind of hit people, and went out around the world,” he said. “Since then, things have changed.”

The company will donate 19,000 wreaths this year, many bound for Arlington and other national cemeteries around the country. Another 80,000 wreaths will be sponsored – purchased by online donors to be placed on veterans’ graves.

A caravan of 30 tractor-trailer trucks will leave the company’s Harrington headquarters Sunday morning, bound for Arlington. They’ll be escorted by the Patriot Riders, a group of motorcycle-riding veterans, and will stop at 20 rallies along the way, including the Bangor Auditorium at noon; the Augusta Armory at 4 p.m.; and Veterans Memorial Park in Lewiston at 5:30 p.m. for a wreath-laying ceremony.

The group is scheduled to place wreaths at the national cemetery at 6:30 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 13.