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Date: 10/19/2022
AGAWAM – At its meeting on Oct. 12, the Friends of the Agawam Veterans Cemetery discussed a program of awareness events and fundraising for their annual participation in Wreaths Across the America, the national organization that lays a Christmas wreath on the graves of veteran.
The organization’s president, Paul Barabani, said to the group’s members, “This is our really busy season.”
The group was planning to host a concert with Sarah the Fiddler on Oct. 16 to raise funds, and will follow that event with a memorial brick and bench dedication at the cemetery on Oct. 23 at 11 a.m.
The memorial bricks ceremony was an annual event up until the start of the coronavirus pandemic, with people sponsoring a brick honoring a loved one. Because of COVID-19, Barabani said, “This is the largest one we’ve ever done.”
The coronavirus pandemic created a supply chain issue with the creation of the bricks, he added.
At the ceremony, which is open to the public, family and friends who have sponsored a brick are encouraged to speak about the honoree, he added. There will be a rifle volley and the playing of taps, as well.
Barabani said the ceremony will be dedicated to the memory of a key member of the Friends group, Jim Healey, who died Sept. 26.
Barabani also spoke of several events that honor veterans. The launch of a new beer honoring vets at Vanished Valley Brewing Co. in Ludlow will be at 6 p.m. on Nov. 3. There will be a Veterans Day celebration at Six Flags New England on Nov. 11 at which all active and retired military personnel with a valid ID will be admitted free, with free parking and a meal card. For $19.99, the veteran can bring in four more people.
On Nov. 12, from 1 to 4 p.m. at Vanished Valley Brewing Co., there will be a veterans appreciation pig roast. Members of the Friends group will be attending.
The wreath-laying ceremony will be Dec. 17, and Barabani said the group is thankful for the assistance of King Ward bus lines and Six Flags. King Ward runs a shuttle service from the Six Flags parking lot, where the volunteers park to reduce congestion at the cemetery.
Barabani said the public has supported their efforts, and for the last three years every headstone in the cemetery has been adorned with a wreath. The Friends group maintains a website on which donations can be made. A wreath can be sponsored for $15, and the most popular donation level is for five wreaths at $75.
Barabani noted that a QR code that will direct a person to the donation website has been added to the flyers the group will distribute at events this year.
To donate or to find out how a person could join the group, visit www.agawamfriends.org.