It's the most inspiring example of volunteerism and giving in America today. More than 2.7 million volunteers, many of them children, visited military cemeteries and put 2.7 million wreaths on the graves of military veterans.
"Wreaths Across America" was held on Saturday, December 16 across the county with $30 million in wreath layings so that our military heroes aren't forgotten during the holidays.
Arlington Cemetery is the largest facility participating in the wreath laying, although the DOD and the Department of Veterans Affairs are not involved. Arlington personnel help publicize the event, but this is strictly a part of the charity Wreaths Across America.
About 60,000 volunteers are expected at the cemetery on Saturday for this year’s wreath layings, making it one of the busiest days of the year at the hallowed site. Caron said another 4,217 sites have signed up to participate in the event as well, up more than 500 from 2022.
Ahead of this year’s event, Wreaths Across America sent 13 tractor trailers carrying wreaths, Gold Star family members and corporate sponsor signs through eight states and the District of Columbia.
The caravan, which launched Sunday from Harrington, Maine — home of Worcester Wreath — is scheduled to arrive at Arlington Cemetery on Thursday morning.
Worcester Wreath is a family-owned business that began the tradition of wreath laying during the holidays in 2008. Congress declared a Saturday in December as "Wreaths Across America Day," and the charitable event has been growing ever since.
There are questions from some charity oversight groups about the fact that all the wreaths are purchased from Worcester. But WAA spokesperson Amber Caron says the wreath production contract is handled by a third party.
“This process is public and executed every three years,” she said. “It is open to any wreath company to submit a bid, nationwide. Up until this point, it has not been deemed necessary by the [subcommittee] and advisor to have more than one vendor to meet the needs of the program.”
Caron said if the charity’s third-party advisers recommend moving away from Worcester Wreath or adding other companies to help with the inventory, “we will consider all options that are in the best interest of the organization.”
But thus far, that has not happened. Wreaths laid in cemeteries as far away as California or Montana are shipped from the Worcester Wreath property in Maine through a series of donated and contracted shipping arrangements. Costs associated with the “Honor Fleet,” as WAA leaders call them, are factored into the sponsorship packages.
Indeed, WAA is totally transparent about its arrangement with Worcester. "Both have filed appropriate disclosures and tax forms and have received no pushback from the Internal Revenue Service or state tax officials.," according to Military Times.
Still, some question the arrangement between the charity and the wreath company.
“You often see a small charity where some of the insiders still work for a related company or the founders and get paid,” said Brian Mittendorf, the H.P. Wolfe chair in accounting at Ohio State’s Fisher College of Business. “The unusual part here is the scale. That an organization of this size would still have such a large portion of its budget in the form of transactions with related persons raises questions.”
The idea for Wreaths Across America grew from a decision by Merril Worcester in the 1990s to donate extra wreaths to Arlington Cemetary. As the effort drew more publicity, the company split off the work into a charitable arm, still maintaining ties with its founders, the Worcester family.
Over the years, corporate donors like American Airlines and Chevrolet have given hundreds of thousands of dollars to WAA. The effort has inspired generations of young people to recognize the fallen and give back to the community on their behalf.
Should the Worcester family reap $30 million in rewards for supplying the wreaths? Certainly, other wreath companies would be as suitable. But my motto is, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." The charity appears to be doing enormous good so let's just leave it at that.
