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12/13/2021 Chairman Azzinaro hosts Wreaths Across America ceremony to honor veterans
STATE HOUSE – Rep. Samuel A. Azzinaro, Chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, today hosted the annual Wreaths Across America State House Ceremony. 

“The holidays are a joyous time for many but it is also important that we acknowledge the losses and sacrifices felt by the families of those who have been lost defending our country.  It is an honor to recognize our dearly departed veterans and their families during the holiday season and I hope that this small gesture brings them solace in knowing that their veteran family members who are no longer with us deserve our absolute thanks and gratitude,” said Chairman Azzinaro (D-Dist. 37, Westerly).

Chairman Azzinaro delivered the opening and closing remarks of the event, as well as laying the wreath in the Garden of Heroes at the State House with Sharon Serio-Valente, President of Rhode Island Gold Star Families.

The annual event to honor veterans during the holiday season was coordinated by the Rhode Island Funeral Directors Association, and included remarks by Allan R. Bellows II, President of the RI Funeral Directors Association, Governor Daniel McKee, Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea, General Treasurer Seth Magaziner, Brigadier General Andrew J. Chevalier, Director of RI Veterans Affairs Kasim Yarn, Wreaths Across America Program Director Michael Calenda and students from Ponagansett High School and Goff Middle School.

Wreaths Across America, which is marked nationally on the second or third weekend of December, began in 1992 when the Worcester Wreath Company of Harrington, Maine, initiated a tradition of donating and placing wreaths on the headstones of our nation’s fallen heroes at Arlington National Cemetery. What began with the donation and placement of about 5,000 wreaths grew into a national event in 2006 and has now grown to include ceremonies at  hundreds of locations across the country involving nearly half a million wreaths.

Photo: House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Samuel A. Azzinaro at the Wreaths Across America State House ceremony.




For more information, contact:
Andrew Caruolo, Publicist
State House Room 20
Providence, RI 02903
(401)222-6124