COLUMBIA FALLS, Maine — In 2018, Wreaths Across America (WAA) rolled out its Mobile Education Exhibit (MEE). This museum on wheels was designed to share the mission to Remember, Honor and Teach in local communities across the country. Since that time the program and reach has travelled so much further than WAA could have anticipated – in 2023 alone, the MEE has visited nine states, joined 83 community events, had 8,495 visitors on board, welcomed home 1,575 Vietnam veterans, and officially thanked 113 military families for their sacrifices. The MEE has seen almost 100k visitors in total since it first hit the road in 2018!
“The goal of the Wreaths Across America Mobile Education Exhibit is to bring communities together and teach about the organization’s mission while remembering the service and sacrifice of our nation’s heroes,” said Trish Gardner, MEE Manager. “The exhibit serves as a mobile museum, educating visitors about the service and sacrifice of our nation’s heroes as well as serving as an official ‘welcome home’ station for our nation’s Vietnam Veterans. We are always overwhelmed with the outpouring of support from the communities we visit.”
When the MEE pulls into your area, all veterans, active-duty military, their families, and the local community members are invited and encouraged to visit, take a tour, and speak with WAA Ambassadors and volunteers. The public tour stops for the MEE are free and open to the public. Since its introduction, the MEE has traveled “coast–to–coast” several times, logging in countless hours and miles visiting communities across our nation.
As a Commemorative Partner of the United States of America Vietnam War Commemoration (VWC) since 2017, the MEE has enabled WAA to welcome home over 6,000 of the more than estimated six million Vietnam War veterans living in this country, helping to connect them and share their stories with members of their community and teach the next generation about their sacrifices and duty. According to the VWC, since 2011 the Commemorative and its partners have officially welcomed home 3.7 million Vietnam veterans with a pinning ceremony that includes a signed proclamation from the President of the United States. You can view a full list of the Commemorative partners here. There are over two million Vietnam veterans across the United States that have yet to be officially welcomed home.
The MEE will be in Maryland and Delaware in the month of August, then traveling to CT, NJ, GA, MA, ME, NH, NY, RI, and VT before joining the “Escort to Arlington” in December to help deliver veterans’ wreaths as part of National Wreaths Across America Day – Saturday, Dec. 16, 2023. We encourage you to visit with us or request the MEE for your location or event if you are in one of those upcoming areas. To learn more about the MEE or submit a request for it to come to your community, click here.
About Wreaths Across America
Wreaths Across America is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded to continue and expand the annual wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery begun by Maine businessman Morrill Worcester in 1992. The organization’s yearlong mission – Remember, Honor, Teach – is carried out in part each year by coordinating wreath-laying ceremonies in December at Arlington, as well as thousands of veterans’ cemeteries and other locations in all 50 states and beyond.
For more information or to sponsor a wreath please visit www.wreathsacrossamerica.org.