Wreaths Across America (WAA) is proud to announce its program will continue this year at Sacramento National Cemetery in Dixon, California, thanks to the effort of local 14-year-old Lyndsey Jacobsen. The location will once again participate in in National Wreaths Across America Day, to be held on Saturday, December 17, and continue the mission to Remember, Honor, Teach in the area. This is the thirteenth year that the cemetery will participate in this national program as an official location and is Jacobsen’s first year as the volunteer location coordinator for her cemetery.
A freshman in high school, Jacobsen was offered the opportunity to be the WAA volunteer location coordinator for the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery and was eager to step up on behalf of her community. She was introduced to WAA in 2021 when her Civil Air Patrol squadron participated in the program. With help from her Squadron, the group raised enough funds to sponsor 130 veterans’ wreaths to honor servicemembers interred there.
Her dad introduced her to her passion for aviation and it is that passion that motivates her to honor our nation’s veterans. In addition to being Civil Air Patrol Cadet, she is also the youth legacy president for the Tuskegee Heritage Chapter of the Greater Sacramento area and an aspiring pilot. For the past two years, she has been taking lessons at a local flight school, Mach 5 Aviation. She has since amassed close to 30 hours of flight time and hopes that one day soon, she can endeavor to be the youngest solo female to fly around the world! After high school, she intends to attend the Air Force Academy to become an Air Force pilot.
“We are forever grateful for the thousands of dedicated volunteers like Lyndsey who dedicate their time and effort to fulfilling our mission all year long,” said Karen Worcester, Executive Director, Wreaths Across America. “To hear of a young member of her community leading the effort brings me so joy – she is the future of this program, of her community and of this nation. She has found a way to serve, and I hope others learn from her example.”
Wreaths Across America started as a simple gesture of thanks that has grown into a national movement of dedicated volunteers and communities coming together to not only remember the nation’s heroes and honor their service, but to teach the next generation about the sacrifices made for us to live freely. The Tuskegee Chapter of the Greater Sacramento area has been beside Lyndsey every step of the way as they have helped her plan this year’s ceremony. Jacobsen stated, “Without their help, this year’s ceremony would not be possible.”
She went on to say, “The goal for the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery is to sponsor 40,000 veterans' wreaths to honor all the local heroes laid to rest there and to ensure that the individuals who served to protect our freedoms would never be forgotten and to unify the community in patriotic commemoration."
This year, there will be more than 3,500 participating locations throughout the United States and abroad placing veterans' wreaths on National Wreaths Across America Day – Saturday, Dec. 17, 2022 – with more than two million volunteers coming together.
National Wreaths Across America Day is a free community event open to all people. Those interested in volunteering for Wreaths Across America or sponsoring a wreath for the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery can 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 mission – Remember, Honor, Teach – is carried out in part each year by coordinating wreath-laying ceremonies in December at Arlington, as well as at thousands of veterans’ cemeteries and other locations in all 50 states and beyond.
All Wreaths Across America Day events are, non-political/religious events, open to all people. For more information, to donate or to sign up to volunteer, please click here.
