NNVMC Wreaths Recycling Program Flourishing with Help from High Desert Grange

By Suzann Gilliland Peterson

The success of the national Wreaths Across America program sheds light on how much our country values veterans who gave the ultimate sacrifice to keep our nation safe. The Northern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Fernley participates every December by laying wreaths at the site of every veteran laid to rest in and on their grounds. January 29 marked the third year the High Desert Grange has partnered with the Nevada Veterans Coalition through liaison Roger Elliott to recycle the wreaths.

Nevada Veterans Coalition volunteers, Grangers, and goat and sheep producers from Fallon, Fernley, Silver Springs, and Lovelock, met at the cemetery at 9 a.m.in trucks and trailers to pick up the wreaths and clean up the cemetery. Wreaths are candy to goats and sheep. These memorials were repurposed to give the livestock a delightful treat, dietary change and save the cemetery thousands of dollars in waste disposal transportation and landfill fees. As a result, the cemetery can reallocate those funds to pay for cemetery flags, honor guard uniforms, and more.

Recycling wreaths at the Northern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery has become immensely popular. This year the entire event took only 90 minutes. Be on the lookout next January for the date and time of the next recycling effort. For more information about this program or the High Desert Grange, please email highdesertgrange22@gmail.com or call 775-427-8210.