The Memorial Day Foundation’s mission is to increase awareness and respect for Memorial Day. We are trying to fulfill our mission by involving the public in our historical and traditional ways of remembering Memorial Day. One of these traditional ways is with flowers. The gift of flowers at a memorial site is a ritual that occurs around the world in every culture. As you probably know our own Memorial Day began as Decoration Day, when on the 30th of May Americans would decorate the graves of Civil War Veterans with flowers.
We have designed a beautiful and dignified “Thank You” floral bouquet of artificial flowers. The floral sleeve is appropriately flag draped in red, white and blue with a specially designed label evoking past Memorial Days. It pays tribute to those who fought and died for us; it explains the origins of Memorial Day and includes a beautiful and moving poem in their honor. The Foundation would like to give the public an opportunity to remember and honor the nation’s war heroes, by placing these bouquets at the Nations War Memorials during Memorial Day Weekend even if they are unable to visit Washington D.C.
We will be using stems of artificial red roses in the bouquet. The tradition of red flowers as a symbol of the blood that was shed for our freedom and liberty goes back to the Civil War. Red roses are also the universal symbol of love.
Each bouquet will have a thank you card attached to it (hence the name “Thank You Bouquet”) that the donor will have the option to sign. The thank you card can be signed by individuals, couples, families, corporations, institutions, organizations and civic associations. It’s important to remember that Memorial Day belongs to everyone.
We would deliver the bouquets to the Nations War Memorials during Memorial Day weekend so that they will be in place for Memorial Day. This would allow for the maximum number of visitors to these memorials to see the bouquets for the fitting tribute that they are for our war dead.
We are asking the public for a $15.00 donation for each bouquet. $5.00 of every $15.00 donation will be given to the Wounded Warrior Project this year in the long held tradition of honoring our dead and helping our wounded. We have deliberately set the donation as low as possible for the greatest participation by the American public.
We delivered and placed the first bouquets to the Nations War Memorials on Friday May 25th of Memorial Day weekend 2007. It was a very reverent and memorable day to have made a public display of remembrance with the flower bouquet. Members of the Nam-Knights Brooklyn-Queens Chapter help place the flowers at the Memorials along with many people who were visiting the Memorial and wanted to participate in remembering our war dead on Memorial Day.
The Memorial Day Foundation is a 501 (c) (3) tax exempt not for profit organization and all donations are tax deductible. The Foundation has no paid positions and relies on volunteers, donors and gratuitous services. |
