BRIDGTON — The Wreaths Across America Foundation (WAA) and local host Molly Ockett Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), are pleased to bring the WAA Mobile Education Exhibit (MEE) tour to Bridgton. The MEE started its tour at the WAA Headquarters in Maine and will be in the Lake Region on Thursday, September 16, in Bridgton for a scheduled event that is both free and open to the public. The event will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Depot Street Parking Lot adjacent to the Bridgton Community
Center.
“The goal of the Wreaths Across America Mobile Education Exhibit is to bring the community together and teach patriotism while remembering the service and sacrifice of our nation’s heroes,” said Karen Worcester, executive director, Wreaths Across America. “However, over the last year, in light of the current health crisis, we feel this exhibit has taken on even more meaning by providing the opportunity for people to safely participate in something that is both educational and inspiring while supporting and giving back to the communities it visits.”
“One goal of the DAR is to promote patriotism through honoring our nation’s veterans and supporting our active-duty military,” said Sherry Edwards, Chapter Regent, Molly Ockett Chapter DAR. “The chapter is delighted to work with the Wreaths Across America Foundation to bring the Mobile Education Exhibit to Bridgton to remember the fallen, honor those who serve and teach the value of freedom. We particularly encourage Vietnam veterans to join us at the MEE so that we can recognize their service to our country. The chapter also thanks the Town of Bridgton for allowing the exhibit to be parked near the community center. “
The Mobile Education Exhibit is a mobile museum with interactive exhibits, short films, and shared stories. It educates visitors about the service and sacrifice of our nation’s heroes as well as to serve as an official ‘welcome home’ station for our nation’s Vietnam Veterans.
Learn more here/Share this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK6rgTEndQU The entire Lake Region community, especially all veterans, active-duty military, and their families, are invited and encouraged to visit the exhibit, to take a tour, and to speak with WAA representatives and volunteers. The team can also share more about the national nonprofit, and the work its volunteers do to support our heroes and their communities year-round.
The public tours for the MEE are free and open to the public with social distancing, sanitation, and COVID-19 safety procedures in place to protect the health of all visitors in accordance with the CDC’s recommendation for large gatherings stemming from concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. Members of the media, dignitaries, veterans, and other interested groups are urged to come, to ask questions, to share stories, and experience this one-of-a-kind exhibit.
Wreaths Across America is the non-profit organization best known for placing wreaths on veterans’ headstones at Arlington National Cemetery. However, in 2020 alone, the organization placed more than 1.7 million sponsored veterans’ wreaths at 2,557 participating locations nationwide. Throughout the calendar year, you can tune in to Wreaths Across America Radio, 24/7, to learn more about the mission and those who support it across the country, as well as the hundreds of local charitable efforts nationwide that are funded through wreath sponsorships. You can sponsor a veteran’s wreath anytime for $15 at 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 at noon on Saturday, December 18, as part of National Wreaths Across America Day. Molly Ockett Chapter DAR will be placing wreaths at the Southern Maine Veterans Cemetery in Springvale this year.
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