Scouts Decorate Graves at Veterans' Home
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Grand Rapids, MI (May 20, 2015) -- At 5 p.m. hundreds Boy Scout and Girl Scout families began arriving at the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans. They stood in line for the cookout and gathered in the grass playing and waiting for the ceremony to begin.
At 6 p.m. Sara Dunne, the home’s administrator, took the stage, greeted the families and talked about why they were gathered and why putting flags on the graves was so important.
At 6:30 p.m. the crowd followed the Kent County Sheriff’s Department Color Guard through the gates, across the bridge and into the cemetery where more than 5,000 veterans rest.
The Grave Decorating Ceremony has been taking place for more than 25 years with the purpose to teach youth the importance of freedom and the sacrifice veterans make to ensure that freedom.
Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency Director, Jeff Barnes, spoke during the program about the tradition of honoring veterans.
“It’s a great honor to start this journey with you and to teach you the value of service and to see that you are embodying the same spirit that these men and women did several decades before you,” Barnes said.
Families entered the cemetery where they were greeted by Boy Scouts handing out the small flags and immediately began placing them next to the gravestones.
Program Director at the President Ford Field Service Council, Matt Hogg, attended the ceremony with his three year-old daughter so she too could participate and begin to understand what service means.
“While she certainly doesn’t understand what those sacrifices mean,” Hogg said, “it is never too early to teach her to honor others and give back to her community.”
Chairman and part founder of the ceremony Bob Porter has been running the event since its inception and said it is important for the kids to understand the commitment the veterans have made.
“This is a way we can demonstrate to the community and to the veterans that the kids appreciate what they’ve done for us,” Porter said. “And one of the fundamental foundations of the Scout Oath is duty to God, duty to country.”
Porter has been involved in Scouting for more than 50 years and has been honored to be a part of the memorial event and continue his Scout Oath.
“It’s about passing along a message to the next generation that freedom is not free,” Porter said.
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