LAFAYETTE PARISH, La. (KATC) — Representatives with Acadiana Area for Veterans and Fountain Memorial Funeral Home and Cemetery say donations to Wreaths Across America are desperately needed for deceased Acadiana veterans and their surviving families.
Robert LeBon, with Acadiana Area for Veterans, tells KATC there are 1,200 veterans honored every December at Fountain Memorial, and they are short 200 wreaths — meaning 200 veterans could go without the honor this holiday season.
"We don't want to leave any veterans out of it, we want to try to get those wreaths out for those veterans," LeBon says, noting the wreaths come from Maine and go across the country to national cemeteries and funeral homes. "We are in even more of a bind now, because the wreath donations were supposed to be two for the price of one, but they pulled it."
Wreaths are $17 each. If you're interested in contributing a wreath donation for an Acadiana veteran and their family, LeBon says you can go to the Wreaths Across America website, and upon checkout, you can enter the code "LALFMC" as your location of contribution, and your donation will go directly to Fountain Memorial. If you miss this step, your donation will still go to one of the 5,500 Wreaths Across America locations.
"We need these wreaths bad," he says. "Acadiana, step up for us, we appreciate it."