With the New Year right around the corner, I’ve been thinking about my un-resolutions for 2025.
If you’ve read this column before, you know I’m not a fan of resolutions myself. I feel they start the new year our in a negative way, by resolving to change something about yourself or your life that you don’t like. Un-resolutions are things that you do or like about yourself that you would like to continue doing in the new year. For example, I like that I read, and I want to continue doing that.
But, every year I challenge myself to look back and find something new that I’d like to focus on for an un-resolution. Something I might not have noticed about myself before, or something that is new from the past year.
Last year I vowed to continue helping others, and in the same vein, this year I want to continue being involved in the community. This isn’t something new, but I don’t recall it being on my list as an un-resolution in years past.
The thought came to me a few weeks ago when a fellow community-member came into our office at The Citizen and sat down to talk about Wreaths Across Ortonville.
Dennis Hoffman, VFW Post 582 commander, is a frequent visitor in our office. He always has something he’s involved in with the VFW in the community. And this time it was the annual Wreaths Across Ortonville, which was the same day as Wreaths Across America.
Wreaths Across America began almost 20 years ago, and the primary activity is placing wreaths on veterans’ graves in military cemeteries, such as Arlington National Cemetery or Great Lakes National Cemetery.
But back in 2018, a local girl scout troop wanted to honor veterans closer to home, and they reached out to Hoffman to do it.
The troop, now known as the Brandon Care Bears, wanted to honor local veterans the same way and raised money to purchase about 100 wreaths for the Ortonville Cemetery veterans.
“They just wanted to be a part of it,” said Hoffman. “We had people who used to go over to Great Lakes, and the troop wanted to do it locally.”
The program has grown every year, and this year they placed 541 wreaths at the Ortonville Cemetery and 100 at the Seymour Lake Cemetery.
“We had the exact amount of wreaths this year,” said Hoffman. “When we put the last wreath at Seymour Lake, we didn’t have any left.”
Hoffman also said they had the biggest crowd of volunteers they’ve ever had, and it took about an hour and a half in the freezing cold to place all of the wreaths. They also ended up with $175 in donations for next year, when Hoffman will have to purchase more bows to replace the ones that have deteriorated or froze to the ground and broke.
“There were a lot of first timers too,” said Hoffman. “We had a really good turnout. It gets bigger every year.”
This is known as the giving season, and I can’t think of a better group of people who have wanted to give back. Every year I see the group photo from Wreaths Across Ortonville, and every year I’m amazed at how many people want to be involved in honoring local veterans within their community.
Happy holidays to all, and I hope in the new year, I can be as good a community member as all of those volunteers.