By Trish Svoboda

Annually, the national nonprofit organization, Wreaths Across America (WAA), acknowledges leading sponsorship groups for their exceptional service to their local communities and their commitment to the year-round mission of Remembering, Honoring, and Teaching. Among the thousands of groups that honor local interred veterans through wreath sponsorships, WAA has recently given special recognition to five sponsorship groups for their contributions as the top groups in Kansas for 2023.

The five top groups of 2023 in Kansas include Friends of Fort Scott National Cemetery, WAA Leavenworth National Cemetery Committee, American Legion Post 47, Nathan Edson Chapter DAR, and Kansas Veterans Cemetery Fort Riley at Manhattan. These five groups combined helped honor over 15,300 veterans in total, contributing to the over 44,900 servicemembers honored throughout the state of Kansas on National Wreaths Across America Day 2023.

Established in 2007, Wreaths Across America (WAA) has joined forces with numerous organizations, volunteers, and civic groups across the country to commemorate and pay tribute to our nation’s veterans and active-duty military all year round through its Group Sponsorship Program. Operating on a 3-for-2 sponsorship model, an additional wreath is placed for every two that are sponsored. With WAA’s national $5 back program, each sponsorship not only does good once, but twice, as $5 from each $17 wreath sponsorship given to a participating group is returned to them for use in their local programs and initiatives.