Volunteers needed to remove wreaths at National Cemetery

BILOXI -- The toughest part about putting up Christmas decorations is taking them down, especially when there are thousands of them.

But that's what will happen at Biloxi National Cemetery at 11 a.m. Saturday as some 9,000 artificial Christmas wreaths will be removed from headstones marking the graves of veterans, and volunteers are need to help.

The wreaths were placed on the grave markers Dec. 5, the first Saturday in the month.

"We have a lot of wreaths to take down so we are hoping some community volunteers will help us remove them," said Veronica Romano, community outreach director for Riemann Family Funeral Homes, one of the underwriters of the wreath program. "We need as many volunteers as possible. We will begin taking them down at 11 a.m."

Romano said the wreaths normally come down the first Saturday in January, but she said it was changed this year because of the New Year's holiday.

"We thought people would be out of town and still enjoying the holiday, so we decided to do it Jan. 9," she said. "The National Cemetery has a very strict policy regarding flowers, so it's unique that we get to leave them out there for a month. It's something they allow us to do for the holidays."

The wreaths will then be stored until next Christmas.

"John Fayard Self Storage takes them and places them in pods," Romano said. "Then, in December, they will load them up on trucks and bring them to the cemetery."

Romano said the wreaths cost about $10 each. They are distributed through Crusaders for Veterans.

She said the group plans to expand its services this year.

"This Christmas, we hope to place 19,000 wreaths on the graves," Romano said.

This story was originally published January 7, 2016 at 4:55 PM with the headline "Volunteers needed to remove wreaths at National Cemetery ."