Veterans Day program held at Camp Nelson National Cemetery
Sponsors, volunteers still needed to cover graves for Wreaths Across America
JESSAMINE COUNTY, Ky. (WTVQ) – Thursday, the community gathered for a Veterans Day ceremony at Camp Nelson National Cemetery in Nicholasville. The ceremony honors service men and women of the U.S. military, veterans, active-duty service members, guardsmen and reservists.
The Central Kentucky Veterans Committee did not host an in-person ceremony last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Camp Nelson National Cemetery will also be the location for this year’s Wreaths Across America event on December 18th and organizers say they still need the public’s help to sponsor wreaths to lay at every grave in honor of our heros who are buried there.
“We don’t get any funding at all from the government,” said Holly Lewis, Marketing Coordinator with Wreaths Across America Camp Nelson. “So, we rely on individuals and corporate sponsors to make sure that we have enough wreaths to cover every grave.”
Randy Shelley, co-location coordinator with Wreaths Across America Camp Nelson says they still need about 4,500 wreaths sponsored out of the 16,500 graves.
“There’s graves that go all the way back to the Civil War,” said Shelley. “That’s our goal is to get every one placed this year.”
Last year, there was no Wreaths Across America Day ceremony.
“So this year we really want as much participation as possible,” added Shelley.
This is the 12th Anniversary of Wreaths Across America at Camp Nelson and the 30th Anniversary nationally, which was founded at Arlington National Cemetery.
You can sponsor a wreath for just $15. The wreaths will be placed at Camp Nelson on Saturday, December 18, 2021.
Lewis says they’re also in need of volunteers to help stage the event in the days leading up to December 18th, loading and unloading wreaths and laying wreaths at the gravesite. You can sign up to volunteer HERE.
Signup for volunteers or to sponsor a wreath ends November 30th. You can find that information HERE.
