Memorial Day weekend is coming later this month, and again this year the Danville Rotary Club is sponsoring its Rotary Memorial Way. The club is selling flag sponsorships for the more than 2,000 American Flags that will line North Vermilion Street and be placed at local war memorials.
Colletta Johnson of Danville was busy helping to prepare the flags at the Vermilion County War Museum….
{AUDIO: ‘’We make the nametags and everything and put the flags on. And the Rotary sells the things and then they plant them. And then they take them out and bring them back to us. And then we clean them and put the nametags back. And the same thing every year – but it increases. We get more and more every year – so it’s really nice.’’}
Johnson notes the flags are not just honoring veterans…
{AUDIO: ‘’You can be living or deceased. And you can have your parents – or anybody. And then we just put ‘In Honor’ of somebody if they’re still living, instead of ‘In Memory’ of somebody.’’}
(Some of the flags that have been prepared and are waiting to be placed at local war memorials and along Rotary Memorial Way in Danville.)
This is the 23rd year for the Danville Rotary Memorial Way and Johnson has been involved since it started. She described how she feels about it…
{AUDIO: ‘’Oh, I think it’s wonderful. I hope it doesn’t stop. My husband was in Korea for two years – so that’s how we got started.’’}
A flag sponsorship costs five dollars, and the money raised will be used to support four areas. They include the Vermilion County War Museum, the Sparky Songer Scholarship at Danville Area Community College, the VA and the Danville Rotary Club.
Anyone wishing to sponsor flags can do so online at www.rotaryflag.com, or by contacting Danville Rotary Club members or calling the Vermilion County War Museum.
In addition to individual flag sponsorships for $5 each, the Rotary Club also offers corporate sponsorships for either $100 for twenty flags, $250 for fifty flags, or $500 for one-hundred flags.
The flags will be placed on Friday, May 26th, for Memorial Day weekend. Rotary Memorial Way extends each year along both sides of North Vermilion Street from English (at First Christian Church) north to Wal-Mart.
