December 29, 2025 • 17 mins
Kevin talks with Amber Caron of Wreaths Across America to talk about their recent wreath laying ceremony for veterans at their grave sights.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
The nine first one and forecast morning rush hour are
going to be wendy starting the Monday, last Monday of
the months, going to be a low of twenty two,
mostly cloudy floors possible this afternoon, winding us up the
fifty miles per hour winds or calm down tonight low
of eighteen, high of twenty nine tomorrow and a low
of twenty three Tuesday night. Right now twenty five degrees
(00:27):
fifty five k. See the talk station Heather Pasto as
our traffic from.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
The U S Health Traffic Center from non invasive to
surgical treatments. The you See Health Back Neck and Spine
Center offers every option to improve quality of life with
convenient locations across Greater Cincinnati and northern Kentucky. Learnmore at
you see health dot com. An accident I seventy five
northbound on the ramp to I seventy four is flowing
(00:54):
as it is off on.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
The left shoulder.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Also, we have a couple of stalls, one on I
seventy one northbound at the Ronald Reagan Highway, another on
I two seventy five west man a Turkey foot Road.
I'm Heather Pasco on fifty five KR see the talk station.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Eight thirty two in the morning, Kevin Gordon in for
Brian Thomas fifty five KR see the talk station. I
want to welcome to a program Aaron Amber Karen. She
is the director of communications for Reese across America. Welcome
to the program.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
Good morning, Kevin. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
My pleasure talk about a fantastic organization that I don't
learned about only about three four years ago. And the
work that you guys do is just absolutely phenomenal. Kind
of give us a thumbnail sketch of reees across America
and and we'll talk about the past Leath ring, Leith
(01:55):
wreath laying. So easy for me to say this past, I.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Know it'd be surprised that the tung Twisters. Yeah, no reason.
Across America. We're a national nonprofit. We're in every single state.
Our mission is very simple. It's to remember the fallen,
honor those who serve, and teach the next generation the
value of freedom. And this is a year round mission
that includes many free programs that do just those things
(02:20):
in your.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
Communities across the country.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
It obviously, we're probably best known for our annual reef
laying event called National Wreaths Across America Day. This year,
it was held on Saturday, December thirteenth, at five thou
five hundred and ninety eight locations nationwide. We're in every
single sea in Alaska, Hawaii. Yeah, it's amazing.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
Puerto Rico, we've grown a lot, almost seven.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Hundred new locations in twenty twenty five, which is really
a testament to the mission.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
All run by volunteers, and that's the part that I
think people are surprised by.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
It's really a volunteer program.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
These are people who have particed diicipated in the program
elsewhere and want to bring it to their community, want
to make sure that the veterans and service members and
military families in their community are being honored and remembered.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
And that's how it grows.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
So it's pretty you know, we had a pretty great
national rescross mark to Day this year. We placed just
over three point one million sponsored veterans wreaths, just over
three million volunteers, a third of whom were children, participated
in this life.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
I think that is I think that part is really fantastic.
Speaker 5 (03:30):
The thirty percent.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Of the of the people that attended our children, I
was only able to participate in this once over the
last four years, both the other times I've been out
of town, but the time that I went, I was
amazed at how many young people that the parents bring
to this event, and.
Speaker 5 (03:52):
Just the.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
All the respect and just when you think in terms
of these fallen soldiers and these these veterans that to
honor them, it's very humbling. I don't know how else
to explain it other than the fact that seeing it
and witnessing it is is amazing.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Yeah, it's it's definitely an experience, and I think that
that's the important thing. Whenever anyone says, well what can
I do to get involved? I always say the first
thing you can do is just find a location near
you to go to one year, you know, take your family.
It's something that's super simple to do. It's a very
simple act to place a wreath and.
Speaker 5 (04:40):
It's a simple process.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Memorable, Yeah, absolutely, but it's very memorable. It's a it's
a core memory for a lot of kids, I think,
because it becomes it's something you can do, it's an action.
It's something that you can go back home with your
family and maybe look up the service member that you
place to reath for and learn about their life. And
it's very simple way to teach your kids what it
(05:02):
means to serve, also to understand.
Speaker 5 (05:04):
The ultimate price.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
And the saying and it chokes me up every time
I hear it or even try to say it. And
when they say a soldier dies twice, once when they
take their last breath, and then once their name is
no longer mentioned. And the fact of laying these reefs
at these grave sites and then taking the time to
(05:26):
speak that person's name, it's just it sends chills down
your spine because you realize that this person either died
in combat, served or whatever, but actually was there to
preserve the freedoms that we take so much for granted.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
And not everyone has the is given the ability to
become a veteran. You know, a veteran is somebody who
served who's living. When we place the replacing veterans reeds,
and it's we call them their veterans reads and replacing
them for service members who.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
You know, maybe never had the chance to be called
a veteran.
Speaker 5 (06:03):
And I know that's a very good point.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Yeah yeah, even if they did, you know, it's a
they could have had a military career, lived a long,
healthy life and passed away, they still chose to serve
and they were willing to do whatever was necessary to
protect our freedoms. And for that, it's something we can
all agree on. It's something that is easy to support.
The responsorship is covers a lot of things. I mean, yes,
(06:29):
when you place when you make a seventeen dollars sponsorship,
yes you're placing a wreath at a specific location, but
in many cases you're also doing in every case you're
you're supporting the year round mission. But right now we
also have a little promotion going on through the end
of the year. And one thing that people don't understand
about Rascross America through we have a program called our
(06:51):
Group Sponsorship Program. And so through that, any any other
nonprofit SO or a veteran service organization, if you're a
v a W American Legion, your soup kitchen, you know,
a kids baseball team, you can sign up to be
a sponsorship group res Across America.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
And this is a year round program and.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Through it you can do the five dollars back. And
so for every seventeen dollars sponsorship made through your group,
you can earn five dollars back. We've given back over
twenty eight million dollars to other nonprofits over the last
seventeen years through this program. And you know, some other
groups sign up as to be a five dollars forward
instead of taking the five dollars back, they want five
(07:32):
dollars to go towards another wreath, which helps please you know,
local cemeteries get full coverage. But we have a promo
going on through the end of this week, so through
the thirty first any registered group, So if you're registered
as a sponsorship group through resacross America and you sponsor
a reath through their group, they'll get a second matching
wreaf for from res across America and.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
That doubles your doubles your contribution. So how do you
do that on the website because I kind of tinkered
around with that the other day. And where on the
website you go to the rechacross America dot org and
then you click on.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
When you go up to the top, you can look
for search and you can when it pulls up the search,
it'll be there's a locations and then there's groups. So
if you know the location that you want to support,
you can look up your location and it'll it'll pull
up the location if it's a participating location, and they
get their own their own page, and then you can
scroll down and see all.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
The groups that support.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
That location, and if you click on their group, you
can sponsor a reath right through that group. Or if
you know the name of the group, so so you
know your local VFW or your local American Legion is
a sponsorship group for your cemetery, you can go directly
to the group section and just look up the name
of that post or with that chapter, or.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
The name of the whatever the nonprofit's name is, and
you can pull up their page.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
So anyone who any group that's uh, you know, participating
location or participating group has their own page on our website,
so it's really easy to find them and to sponsor
a reaf through them and then we take care of
it on the back end.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
So and that's a great way.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
And you can also call you can call our customer
service at eight seven seven three eight five nine five
oh four and see if you know what what are
the groups that are supporting the local cemeteria that you
care about, and you can support that group, so that
way you know your money is going that much further.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
You're you know, you're not only are you you're.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Also you know, when you support group, you're also supporting
two organizations. So for your seventeen dollars contribution, you're sponsoring
the REEF and you're supporting REEFCROSSMURCAS programs, but you're also
helping this other nonprofit in there in your community. So
it's a really great way to kind of do good
twice all throughout the year. But obviously this promos through
the end of this week is a great way for
(10:05):
us to help our volunteers to be successful and get
a great head start for next year.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
My guest is Amber Karen. She is the director of
Communications REES across America. Now, to be clear, on your
web page, you don't want to go to the sponsor reaths,
correct you?
Speaker 3 (10:25):
If you yeah, you actually can do that. Yet, if
you go to sponsor wreaths and you say you're going
to click one sponsor one wreath, you can go ahead,
I'm gonna go through the process and you can add
to kart, you can proceed to check out and basically
you can go through and you can actually edit and
you can say where you want your wreath to go.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
You can be very specific as to what group and
location you.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Want to go to.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
That things that I find it easier just to start
at the group that you want, So by going to
search sponsor, yes, okay, yeah, that's probably the easiest way.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Is yeah, I think it's more a better way of
going to it because I you know, but backing up, also,
if you are interested in being part of this and
being part of the wreath playing ceremony, you can go
to the get involved and it's very simple. You go,
(11:20):
you sign up and you tell them where you're located
or your zip code. And when I did this three
and maybe four years ago, within a half hour, one
of the people contacted me and said, hey, we're interested
in having you and all this, and so they talked
about what cemetery they sponsored and how close it was
(11:40):
to where I live, and it was a very easy
sign up policy. And so to do that again going
back in and purchasing a wreath, you can go to
that specific sponsor and sponsor the wreath at that location.
And it's very important to do that because you want
to get that bang for your buck. You want to
(12:00):
make sure and it's seventeen dollars. I mean, you look
at these reefs. I'm telling you, folks, you go online
and you look at the Reefs Across America dot org
and look at the picture on there, and that is
just such an amazing picture and I think originally at
Arlington National Cemetery, the when that first took place, and
(12:25):
the snow on the ground, and when you look at
these wreaths, I mean, these are anybody that's gone out
and bought a wreath seventeen dollars for these reefs, you
should be probably paying twice as much for them.
Speaker 5 (12:37):
They're that beautiful.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
Well, and you're and you're not just paying.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
And I want to be really clear for people saying
it's not just paying for the reef.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
The reef is.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
One thing that gets placed. But you're supporting local programs.
You're supporting the res Across America mission and our year
round program. We have so many things including you know,
our own we have our own radio station that you
know that we share content from our veterans and service members.
Speaker 4 (13:00):
We have our we have our museum and our traveling museum.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
We have our education program, free curriculum for teachers and
educators across the country. So there's a year round mission
here that's being supported with that seventeen dollars sponsorship and
a wreath who's getting played?
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Yeah, I should I should have been more specific on that.
I apologize for that, but yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
I think it's an important distinction that people don't realize, yeah,
because I think they're like, oh, well, seventeen dollars, I'm
getting a wreath, yes, and other things.
Speaker 5 (13:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
And in a lot of cases with these sponsorship groups,
you're supporting of another another group's.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
Mission, right, I mean twenty eight million dollars.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
I mean, we haven't gotten the updated figure yet for
twenty twenty five, but I guarantee it's going to be
over thirty million dollars this year. We've we had over
seven thousand sponsorship groups last year.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
So these are groups that are you know, I have.
I had kids that played baseball and we.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Sold poor Mate popcorn for absurd amounts of money, and
those kids would see a dollar you know of it,
whereas this is seventeen dollars and five dollars goes directly
back to whatever the program is. It's a great it's
a great way to raise funds, and especially for youth programs,
for them to learn about those service members in their community.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
It is an absolutely fantastic organization and I recommend it highly.
It's just one of those things that really touches your soul. Again,
Amber Karen, director of Communication, Rescross America, it I just
can't speak enough about it with the good work that
you do. And my other well, my full time gig
(14:32):
is with America's truck a Network and we were a
part of Rescross America and do the truck and Tuesday
and do the show there and it's been great going
to the America Mid America Trucking Show and being right
around the corner from the booth of Recross America. Uh,
(14:52):
it's always great to talk to them. Jeff Pearce, in
your in your crowd. It's just an amazing organization. So
once again, thank you, Kevin. Anybody interested in getting on board, go.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
To reads across America dot org and there's plenty of
ways to follow get involved if you want to look
to how to get involved locally, or go to the
search function and look up a sponsorship group near you
and see where you can make your contribution doubled over
the next week.
Speaker 5 (15:24):
And if if you prefer the phone route, that would be.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
The phone route is eight seven, seven, three, eight, five
nine five four.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Five four And again my guests, Amber, Karen, and by
the way, I know it is kind of rushed and
getting in touch with you over the weekend, but I
certainly appreciate, uh you spend the time with us today
and folks, Reach across America dot org support a very
fantastic organization. Get on board, look at the website. If
(16:00):
if it doesn't touch your heart, well nothing will. And
that's all I have to say. And it's a fantastic organization. Remember,
Honor and teach Heather. It's been a pleasure talking to you.
I have to do this again sometime and again, folks,
this is a promotion that goes till December thirty, first
(16:20):
New Year's Day. Get double Bang for your buck, sponsor
a wreath and they match that from Reese Cross America.
Any closing thoughts, No.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
I appreciate it, Kevin, Thank you so much. Everyone. Like
I said, even though even though Reads Cross America Day
is over for twenty twenty five, the mission continues year round.
There's ways to get involved year round and never too
early to get involved for next year exactly.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
And oh, by the way, save the date December nineteenth nineteenth.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Yeah, six December December nineteenth, twenty twenty six. We'll do
it all over again and probably at over six thousand
locations next year, all right, which is crazy crazy to
think about.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Let's hope, Amber, do you go to the Mid America
Trucking Show with the crew or so.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
I haven't gone in a few years.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
So in my path life.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
Fun fact, Kevin, in my past life, I was a
public relations person for the trucking industry, So I actually
used to go to America, oh okay for years and
years and years, but I haven't gone recently with Reese
across America. The team, the team handles that, but I
have been many a time.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
All righty, well, they're hounding me to take a break here,
amberor appreciate you. Happy New Year, Happy New Year, Thank
you so much. I'm Kevin Gordon in for Brian Thomas.
Fifty five KRS the talk station.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
This is fifty five KARC and iHeartRadio station Service to
America does
The nine first one and forecast morning rush hour are
going to be wendy starting the Monday, last Monday of
the months, going to be a low of twenty two,
mostly cloudy floors possible this afternoon, winding us up the
fifty miles per hour winds or calm down tonight low
of eighteen, high of twenty nine tomorrow and a low
of twenty three Tuesday night. Right now twenty five degrees
(00:27):
fifty five k. See the talk station Heather Pasto as
our traffic from.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
The U S Health Traffic Center from non invasive to
surgical treatments. The you See Health Back Neck and Spine
Center offers every option to improve quality of life with
convenient locations across Greater Cincinnati and northern Kentucky. Learnmore at
you see health dot com. An accident I seventy five
northbound on the ramp to I seventy four is flowing
(00:54):
as it is off on.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
The left shoulder.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Also, we have a couple of stalls, one on I
seventy one northbound at the Ronald Reagan Highway, another on
I two seventy five west man a Turkey foot Road.
I'm Heather Pasco on fifty five KR see the talk station.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Eight thirty two in the morning, Kevin Gordon in for
Brian Thomas fifty five KR see the talk station. I
want to welcome to a program Aaron Amber Karen. She
is the director of communications for Reese across America. Welcome
to the program.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
Good morning, Kevin. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
My pleasure talk about a fantastic organization that I don't
learned about only about three four years ago. And the
work that you guys do is just absolutely phenomenal. Kind
of give us a thumbnail sketch of reees across America
and and we'll talk about the past Leath ring, Leith
(01:55):
wreath laying. So easy for me to say this past, I.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Know it'd be surprised that the tung Twisters. Yeah, no reason.
Across America. We're a national nonprofit. We're in every single state.
Our mission is very simple. It's to remember the fallen,
honor those who serve, and teach the next generation the
value of freedom. And this is a year round mission
that includes many free programs that do just those things
(02:20):
in your.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
Communities across the country.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
It obviously, we're probably best known for our annual reef
laying event called National Wreaths Across America Day. This year,
it was held on Saturday, December thirteenth, at five thou
five hundred and ninety eight locations nationwide. We're in every
single sea in Alaska, Hawaii. Yeah, it's amazing.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
Puerto Rico, we've grown a lot, almost seven.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Hundred new locations in twenty twenty five, which is really
a testament to the mission.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
All run by volunteers, and that's the part that I
think people are surprised by.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
It's really a volunteer program.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
These are people who have particed diicipated in the program
elsewhere and want to bring it to their community, want
to make sure that the veterans and service members and
military families in their community are being honored and remembered.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
And that's how it grows.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
So it's pretty you know, we had a pretty great
national rescross mark to Day this year. We placed just
over three point one million sponsored veterans wreaths, just over
three million volunteers, a third of whom were children, participated
in this life.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
I think that is I think that part is really fantastic.
Speaker 5 (03:30):
The thirty percent.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Of the of the people that attended our children, I
was only able to participate in this once over the
last four years, both the other times I've been out
of town, but the time that I went, I was
amazed at how many young people that the parents bring
to this event, and.
Speaker 5 (03:52):
Just the.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
All the respect and just when you think in terms
of these fallen soldiers and these these veterans that to
honor them, it's very humbling. I don't know how else
to explain it other than the fact that seeing it
and witnessing it is is amazing.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Yeah, it's it's definitely an experience, and I think that
that's the important thing. Whenever anyone says, well what can
I do to get involved? I always say the first
thing you can do is just find a location near
you to go to one year, you know, take your family.
It's something that's super simple to do. It's a very
simple act to place a wreath and.
Speaker 5 (04:40):
It's a simple process.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Memorable, Yeah, absolutely, but it's very memorable. It's a it's
a core memory for a lot of kids, I think,
because it becomes it's something you can do, it's an action.
It's something that you can go back home with your
family and maybe look up the service member that you
place to reath for and learn about their life. And
it's very simple way to teach your kids what it
(05:02):
means to serve, also to understand.
Speaker 5 (05:04):
The ultimate price.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
And the saying and it chokes me up every time
I hear it or even try to say it. And
when they say a soldier dies twice, once when they
take their last breath, and then once their name is
no longer mentioned. And the fact of laying these reefs
at these grave sites and then taking the time to
(05:26):
speak that person's name, it's just it sends chills down
your spine because you realize that this person either died
in combat, served or whatever, but actually was there to
preserve the freedoms that we take so much for granted.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
And not everyone has the is given the ability to
become a veteran. You know, a veteran is somebody who
served who's living. When we place the replacing veterans reeds,
and it's we call them their veterans reads and replacing
them for service members who.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
You know, maybe never had the chance to be called
a veteran.
Speaker 5 (06:03):
And I know that's a very good point.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Yeah yeah, even if they did, you know, it's a
they could have had a military career, lived a long,
healthy life and passed away, they still chose to serve
and they were willing to do whatever was necessary to
protect our freedoms. And for that, it's something we can
all agree on. It's something that is easy to support.
The responsorship is covers a lot of things. I mean, yes,
(06:29):
when you place when you make a seventeen dollars sponsorship,
yes you're placing a wreath at a specific location, but
in many cases you're also doing in every case you're
you're supporting the year round mission. But right now we
also have a little promotion going on through the end
of the year. And one thing that people don't understand
about Rascross America through we have a program called our
(06:51):
Group Sponsorship Program. And so through that, any any other
nonprofit SO or a veteran service organization, if you're a
v a W American Legion, your soup kitchen, you know,
a kids baseball team, you can sign up to be
a sponsorship group res Across America.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
And this is a year round program and.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Through it you can do the five dollars back. And
so for every seventeen dollars sponsorship made through your group,
you can earn five dollars back. We've given back over
twenty eight million dollars to other nonprofits over the last
seventeen years through this program. And you know, some other
groups sign up as to be a five dollars forward
instead of taking the five dollars back, they want five
(07:32):
dollars to go towards another wreath, which helps please you know,
local cemeteries get full coverage. But we have a promo
going on through the end of this week, so through
the thirty first any registered group, So if you're registered
as a sponsorship group through resacross America and you sponsor
a reath through their group, they'll get a second matching
wreaf for from res across America and.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
That doubles your doubles your contribution. So how do you
do that on the website because I kind of tinkered
around with that the other day. And where on the
website you go to the rechacross America dot org and
then you click on.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
When you go up to the top, you can look
for search and you can when it pulls up the search,
it'll be there's a locations and then there's groups. So
if you know the location that you want to support,
you can look up your location and it'll it'll pull
up the location if it's a participating location, and they
get their own their own page, and then you can
scroll down and see all.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
The groups that support.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
That location, and if you click on their group, you
can sponsor a reath right through that group. Or if
you know the name of the group, so so you
know your local VFW or your local American Legion is
a sponsorship group for your cemetery, you can go directly
to the group section and just look up the name
of that post or with that chapter, or.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
The name of the whatever the nonprofit's name is, and
you can pull up their page.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
So anyone who any group that's uh, you know, participating
location or participating group has their own page on our website,
so it's really easy to find them and to sponsor
a reaf through them and then we take care of
it on the back end.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
So and that's a great way.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
And you can also call you can call our customer
service at eight seven seven three eight five nine five
oh four and see if you know what what are
the groups that are supporting the local cemeteria that you
care about, and you can support that group, so that
way you know your money is going that much further.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
You're you know, you're not only are you you're.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Also you know, when you support group, you're also supporting
two organizations. So for your seventeen dollars contribution, you're sponsoring
the REEF and you're supporting REEFCROSSMURCAS programs, but you're also
helping this other nonprofit in there in your community. So
it's a really great way to kind of do good
twice all throughout the year. But obviously this promos through
the end of this week is a great way for
(10:05):
us to help our volunteers to be successful and get
a great head start for next year.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
My guest is Amber Karen. She is the director of
Communications REES across America. Now, to be clear, on your
web page, you don't want to go to the sponsor reaths,
correct you?
Speaker 3 (10:25):
If you yeah, you actually can do that. Yet, if
you go to sponsor wreaths and you say you're going
to click one sponsor one wreath, you can go ahead,
I'm gonna go through the process and you can add
to kart, you can proceed to check out and basically
you can go through and you can actually edit and
you can say where you want your wreath to go.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
You can be very specific as to what group and
location you.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Want to go to.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
That things that I find it easier just to start
at the group that you want, So by going to
search sponsor, yes, okay, yeah, that's probably the easiest way.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Is yeah, I think it's more a better way of
going to it because I you know, but backing up, also,
if you are interested in being part of this and
being part of the wreath playing ceremony, you can go
to the get involved and it's very simple. You go,
(11:20):
you sign up and you tell them where you're located
or your zip code. And when I did this three
and maybe four years ago, within a half hour, one
of the people contacted me and said, hey, we're interested
in having you and all this, and so they talked
about what cemetery they sponsored and how close it was
(11:40):
to where I live, and it was a very easy
sign up policy. And so to do that again going
back in and purchasing a wreath, you can go to
that specific sponsor and sponsor the wreath at that location.
And it's very important to do that because you want
to get that bang for your buck. You want to
(12:00):
make sure and it's seventeen dollars. I mean, you look
at these reefs. I'm telling you, folks, you go online
and you look at the Reefs Across America dot org
and look at the picture on there, and that is
just such an amazing picture and I think originally at
Arlington National Cemetery, the when that first took place, and
(12:25):
the snow on the ground, and when you look at
these wreaths, I mean, these are anybody that's gone out
and bought a wreath seventeen dollars for these reefs, you
should be probably paying twice as much for them.
Speaker 5 (12:37):
They're that beautiful.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
Well, and you're and you're not just paying.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
And I want to be really clear for people saying
it's not just paying for the reef.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
The reef is.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
One thing that gets placed. But you're supporting local programs.
You're supporting the res Across America mission and our year
round program. We have so many things including you know,
our own we have our own radio station that you
know that we share content from our veterans and service members.
Speaker 4 (13:00):
We have our we have our museum and our traveling museum.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
We have our education program, free curriculum for teachers and
educators across the country. So there's a year round mission
here that's being supported with that seventeen dollars sponsorship and
a wreath who's getting played?
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Yeah, I should I should have been more specific on that.
I apologize for that, but yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
I think it's an important distinction that people don't realize, yeah,
because I think they're like, oh, well, seventeen dollars, I'm
getting a wreath, yes, and other things.
Speaker 5 (13:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
And in a lot of cases with these sponsorship groups,
you're supporting of another another group's.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
Mission, right, I mean twenty eight million dollars.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
I mean, we haven't gotten the updated figure yet for
twenty twenty five, but I guarantee it's going to be
over thirty million dollars this year. We've we had over
seven thousand sponsorship groups last year.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
So these are groups that are you know, I have.
I had kids that played baseball and we.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Sold poor Mate popcorn for absurd amounts of money, and
those kids would see a dollar you know of it,
whereas this is seventeen dollars and five dollars goes directly
back to whatever the program is. It's a great it's
a great way to raise funds, and especially for youth programs,
for them to learn about those service members in their community.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
It is an absolutely fantastic organization and I recommend it highly.
It's just one of those things that really touches your soul. Again,
Amber Karen, director of Communication, Rescross America, it I just
can't speak enough about it with the good work that
you do. And my other well, my full time gig
(14:32):
is with America's truck a Network and we were a
part of Rescross America and do the truck and Tuesday
and do the show there and it's been great going
to the America Mid America Trucking Show and being right
around the corner from the booth of Recross America. Uh,
(14:52):
it's always great to talk to them. Jeff Pearce, in
your in your crowd. It's just an amazing organization. So
once again, thank you, Kevin. Anybody interested in getting on board, go.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
To reads across America dot org and there's plenty of
ways to follow get involved if you want to look
to how to get involved locally, or go to the
search function and look up a sponsorship group near you
and see where you can make your contribution doubled over
the next week.
Speaker 5 (15:24):
And if if you prefer the phone route, that would be.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
The phone route is eight seven, seven, three, eight, five
nine five four.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Five four And again my guests, Amber, Karen, and by
the way, I know it is kind of rushed and
getting in touch with you over the weekend, but I
certainly appreciate, uh you spend the time with us today
and folks, Reach across America dot org support a very
fantastic organization. Get on board, look at the website. If
(16:00):
if it doesn't touch your heart, well nothing will. And
that's all I have to say. And it's a fantastic organization. Remember,
Honor and teach Heather. It's been a pleasure talking to you.
I have to do this again sometime and again, folks,
this is a promotion that goes till December thirty, first
(16:20):
New Year's Day. Get double Bang for your buck, sponsor
a wreath and they match that from Reese Cross America.
Any closing thoughts, No.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
I appreciate it, Kevin, Thank you so much. Everyone. Like
I said, even though even though Reads Cross America Day
is over for twenty twenty five, the mission continues year round.
There's ways to get involved year round and never too
early to get involved for next year exactly.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
And oh, by the way, save the date December nineteenth nineteenth.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Yeah, six December December nineteenth, twenty twenty six. We'll do
it all over again and probably at over six thousand
locations next year, all right, which is crazy crazy to
think about.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Let's hope, Amber, do you go to the Mid America
Trucking Show with the crew or so.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
I haven't gone in a few years.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
So in my path life.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
Fun fact, Kevin, in my past life, I was a
public relations person for the trucking industry, So I actually
used to go to America, oh okay for years and
years and years, but I haven't gone recently with Reese
across America. The team, the team handles that, but I
have been many a time.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
All righty, well, they're hounding me to take a break here,
amberor appreciate you. Happy New Year, Happy New Year, Thank
you so much. I'm Kevin Gordon in for Brian Thomas.
Fifty five KRS the talk station.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
This is fifty five KARC and iHeartRadio station Service to
America does
Brian Thomas News
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