National non-profit Wreaths Across America (WAA) announced that Fort Ontario State Historic Site will once again be an official location for National Wreaths Across America Day. The event begins at noon on Saturday, Dec. 16 inside the old stone fort in front of the enlisted men’s barracks. A wreath-laying ceremony at the Post Cemetery follows where each veteran’s name will be read out loud.

This marks the sixth anniversary of the fort’s participation in the national event which includes over 4,000 other locations across the country. The 2023 theme is “Serve and Succeed,” which came about while discussing the significance of last year’s theme (“Find a Way to Serve”) and the need to stress the importance of service and the positive ways it can impact lives.

“There are many ways to serve your community and country, and just as there are many definitions of success,” said Karen Worcester, executive director for Wreaths Across America. “We hope that by focusing on those success stories, we will help change the dialogue around what it means to serve your country.

“Every person has something to give, whether it’s their time, ideas, compassion or resources,” she added. “What can seem like the simplest act or gift can start a nation-wide movement and it is our hope that this theme will inspire those actions. I think Mother Teresa said it best, ‘the greatest good is what we do for one another.’”

Through this year’s theme, Wreaths Across America will focus on the stories of veterans and military families who have found success through their service, as well as those of volunteers from across the country and the success they experienced from serving their communities.

Use the hashtag #ServeAndSucceed to follow stories from across the country focused on this year’s theme.

Wreaths Across America was founded by Morrill Worchester, owner of a wreath-making business in Maine. In 1992, he had a surplus of wreaths toward the end of the holiday season and didn’t want to throw them away. Remembering a childhood visit to Arlington National Cemetery that made a lasting impact on him, Worchester worked with a Maine senator to place over 5,000 wreaths in the older, less visited sections of the cemetery as a symbol that those soldiers may not be forgotten.

This small act grew into what is now known as Wreaths Across America and helped established its mission – ‘Remember, Honor and Teach’ – which aims to remember the fallen, honor those who served and teach the younger generations about the value of freedom.

In 2005, Wreaths Across America became nationally known after an iconic photograph was taken of an older section of Arlington National Cemetery filled with veterans’ wreaths. In 2007, Congress enacted the organization as a national 501(c)(3) non-profit and more than one million wreaths were placed in cemeteries across the country. In 2022, volunteers placed over 2.7 million wreaths on veterans’ headstones at 3,702 participating locations around the country. Today, the organization continues to support and bring attention to the needs of the veteran community and showcase the contributions of those who serve.

National Wreaths Across America Day is a free, non-political, non-denominational community event open to all people. The remembrance ceremony aims to honor the service and sacrifice that men and women have made for American freedom by placing a wreath on the headstone of every U.S. service member at home and abroad.

For more information on the program, follow the Fort Ontario WAA Facebook page at https://m.facebook.com/FortOntarioWAA/.

To learn how to volunteer or sponsor a wreath for an American hero in the Fort Ontario Post Cemetery, visit https://wreathsacrossamerica.org/pages/155232/Overview/?relatedId=0.

NATIONAL EVENT RETURNS TO FORT ONTARIO – Fort Ontario State Historic Site is once again tapped to serve as an official location for National Wreaths Across America Day. The event is part of Wreaths Across America’s mission to ‘Remember, Honor and Teach’ in support of veterans. For over 30 years, wreath-laying ceremonies have been celebrated at thousands of veterans’ cemeteries and other locations across the U.S. Pictured is a child placing a remembrance wreath in front of a headstone at the Fort Ontario Post Cemetery. Photo courtesy of Emily King.