July 14, 2008
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Every year on the Fourth of July we purchase and deliver thousands of
United States flags to all our neighbors and friends. It takes several days to deliver more than ten thousand flags, and line them up perfectly, but the telephone calls from veterans and neighbors who revere the flag are very gratifying.
I have come to be known as the neighborhood ‘flag lady’ by my neighbors and the local media. I am especially pleased that this activity is able to remind all of us that we are a part of one large community. We can all work together for the good of the Nation.
I also love to drive through the neighborhoods on the night before the 4th of July, and watch Old Glory wave. I am honored to provide this service, and I count my blessings that special morning for having lived in a free and strong country all my life. My husband and I say a special prayer for our family members who served in the armed forces and for those who gave the ultimate sacrifice so we could enjoy all the benefits of our hard fought freedoms.
I receive many calls from all over the Bethesda-Chevy Chase area, not only on July Fourth, but for weeks after, to thank us for their flag and to share their memories of fellow soldiers or loved ones no longer with us. We get special calls from those who for years now have collected the Flags delivered by us- and displayed all of them on their lawn. Others call because they have found no flag on their lawn in the morning, while all their neighbors had one. I assure them that it is likely that someone took their flag, and that we are happy to deliver another one to their home. One year, hundreds of flags were taken from neighborhood lawns to the Nations Capital and distributed to people watching the fireworks on the grass at the mall.
One neighborhood association with strict restrictions would not let us outsiders deliver the flags, so a veteran within the neighborhood reached out to us for help, used our contacts and his own personal resources to complete this job. He was especially grateful to be a part of this community effort.
I want to express my appreciation to all my neighbors, friends and business associates who make it possible for us to be a part of this celebration of our Nation’s independence each year. We started out years ago as a group of a few individuals delivering hundreds of flags in the wee hours of the morning, and because well wishers and neighbors have helped encourage us, this endeavor has grown a hundred fold, and now takes several days of dedicated effort by conscientious workers walking miles and miles up and down the streets and sidewalks of Bethesda in order to deliver our flags.
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