By Debbie Adams
The Roanoke Valley Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (RVCDAR) honored the men and women who have died while serving in the U.S. military by continuing their tradition of planting a garden of American flags at the Vinton Municipal Building in observance of Memorial Day. The chapter also plants flags at the Municipal Building for Flag Day in June, Veterans Day in November and the Fourth of July.
Their tradition changed a tad in 2020—on May 23 the women planted the 200 small garden flags wearing masks and socially distancing. In fact, past Regent Sharon Menzies came with a bag of face masks she had sewn for those who didn’t bring one themselves.
The flags will remain on display through May 26.
In normal times, the Roanoke Valley Chapter meets on a monthly basis at St. Timothy’s Lutheran Church on Hardy Road in Vinton and completes many community service projects focusing on veterans throughout the year. They make lap blankets for local veterans in the Roanoke Valley. In 2019, the women donated 20 tied fleece blankets to the veterans living at Friendship Manor.
Another project of the local organization is making pocket flags and care packages for deploying troops. Each year they present the DAR Good Citizen Award to a local high school senior. Olivia Robertson, a senior at William Byrd High School, was this year’s recipient.
Cindy Higgins is the current Regent of the RVCDAR. She assisted with the flag-planting along with Sharon and Heather Menzies and Elaine Muldrew.
Members of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution have officially sewn and donated more than 100,000 masks for those in need across America during the Coronavirus pandemic. As they learned that hospitals and medical facilities had PPE shortages and needed face masks, DAR members jumped in to assist immediately.
The local DAR Chapter welcomes new members who document their direct lineage to a patriot of the American Revolution.
