Couple looking to raise $9,000 for wreaths to place on graves of veterans this holiday season

Couple launches fundraiser mid-pandemic to ensure veteran’s graves will be decorated this holiday season

Frank and Linda Drury of Jeanette, Pennsylvania are honoring veterans and looking ahead by raising money for wreaths to place on local veteran’s graves this holiday season.

The couple is aiming to raise $9,000 for the purchase of 600 wreaths through Wreaths Across America, which will be used to decorate the graves of veterans buried at Jeannette Memorial Park.

“We’re just doing it to honor the vets and to do something positive for the town,” Linda Drury said. “This is something everybody can do.”

“We don’t want anybody to not get a wreath that deserves one,” added Frank Drury, who is a veteran himself. 

The couple hopes to reach their goal by October 31st, and is already halfway there thanks to the help of their community. 

“The businesses of Jeannette have been awesome,” Frank Drury said to Trib Live. “It’s awesome, especially in this time.”

If the fundraising goal is met, the 600 wreaths will be laid at the Jeannette Memorial Park at noon on December 19th, and the Jeannette Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8240 honor guard, where Frank Drury is a member, will participate in a ceremony later that afternoon. 

The couple will need the help of volunteers to unload the wreaths, and any family members of veterans buried at Jeannette Memorial Park can request to lay a wreath at the gravestone of their loved one themselves.

“It’s something that we’re hoping to grow every year,” Linda said. 

“Our intention is that, hopefully, in the years to come that we can add [other cemeteries around the Jeannette area.]”