In its first year as a fundraising group for Wreaths, the DAR Caravel Chapter exceeded its target goal of 200 wreaths to sponsor with 212 or 105%, DAR Wreaths program chair Diana Schwarz reports. Bay Pines National Cemetery in St. Petersburg had a total of 4,800 wreaths delivered on December 15, with its website showing 5,007 sponsored. Although still a far cry from the 34,000 gravesites to be covered, more than double the number were sponsored this year – a good upward trend. About 200 volunteered to lay the wreaths, including a number of DAR Caravel Chapter members, Tampa Bay Beaches Chamber member Barry Foster, Wayne McKenney from the Kiwanis Seminole Breakfast Club that sponsored 10 wreaths, and Jolene Bivens who responded to the notice in Paradise News. Pinellas Technical College sponsored the semi-trailer which drove up to Maine to pick up the wreaths and bring them to Bay Pines.
For a matter of perspective, Jacksonville National Cemetery had 10,500 wreaths laid; Ft. Logan, C0, has 70,000 gravesites with 14,000 wreaths sponsored; Abraham Lincoln Cemetery in Illinois had 20,000 wreaths sponsored. Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell had 30,763 wreaths sponsored, 103% above goal; Sarasota National Cemetery had 16,767 wreaths sponsored,124% above goal. The work ahead is to get many more gravesites covered at Bay Pines National Cemetery in the next few years.
At Wreaths delivery truck, from left, DAR Wreaths program chair Diana Schwarz, Barry Foster and Jolene Bivens.
Volunteers laying wreaths Dec. 15 at Bay Pines.