Veterans cemetery volunteer addresses Kiwanis Club

Lampasas Kiwanis Club president John Parks presents a $200 check to Jean Shine, president and founder of Friends of the Central Texas Veterans Cemetery. The Kiwanis Club gave the donation to provide for wreaths at the cemetery.

Jean Shine, president and founder of Friends of the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery, recently briefed the Lampasas Kiwanis Club about the cemetery's history and her organization's efforts to honor veterans.

Friends of the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery provides wreaths for each grave there -- currently about 900, although the 174- acre site can accommodate 50,000 graves. In cooperation with Wreaths Across America, an organization that provides wreaths to veterans' burial grounds across the country, Friends of the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery places wreaths the weekend after Thanksgiving and picks them up early in January, which allows veterans' families to view decorated graves throughout the Christmas season.

Volunteers will gather up the wreaths Jan. 5 at 10 a.m., Mrs. Shine said. "We hope Lampasas will join us," she added.

Friends of the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery is asking for donations to purchase wreaths and plans to build a storage facility at the cemetery to store wreaths and bows throughout the year, Mrs. Shine said. Donors can contribute online at www.wreathsforvets.org.

The cemetery serves 44 counties, and Mrs. Shine expects 600 to 1,000 new wreaths will be needed each year around Christmas.

The burial grounds serve an important purpose, she said, in honoring veterans from World War II through the ongoing operations in Iraq.

"They are our soliders," said Mrs. Shine. "We need to let them know we support them."