By: Dean Vaglia | Fraser-Clinton Chronicle | Published December 4, 2025
CLINTON TOWNSHIP — With the holiday season now underway, the sight of evergreen wreaths around town is nigh inescapable. Doors, garages, streetlights and more are adorned with the circular bundles of branches signifying the coming of winter and impending late-December holidays — but what if they could be something more?
On Saturday, Dec. 13, volunteers will lay millions of wreaths upon the graves of veterans as part of the Wreaths Across America outreach.
“What (Wreaths Across America) is supposed to do is honor our veterans — remember, honor and teach,” said Kerry Jantz, a member of the Clinton Township Kiwanis Club and an organizer of the Wreaths Across America event at Resurrection Cemetery in Clinton Township. “You’re supposed to remember the veteran, honor the veteran and then teach our next generation.”
According to the organization’s website, Wreaths Across America got its start when the owner of a wreath company in Maine donated excess wreaths to Arlington National Cemetery in 1992. The distribution of the surplus wreaths continued into the 2000s with quiet support before media coverage in 2005 led to wreaths being sent from Maine across the country. The outreach later branched out to locally-organized ceremonies in 2006. Wreaths Across America was formed into a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in 2007 and shifted to supporting and promoting wreath-laying ceremonies every second Saturday in December.
Jantz says the Clinton Township Wreaths Across America ceremonies at Resurrection Cemetery got their start in the early 2010s thanks to the efforts of Karen and Nick Straffon.
“Nick was a veteran and both of them were very dedicated, and they still do a lot of things,” Jantz said. “They live out in St. Clair. Their work on this thing, it was just the two of them. They had other people that helped them, but it was pretty much a year-round thing. They would get done with it and then they’d start working on next year’s (ceremony).
“They are very committed to honoring our military and honoring our great veterans that paved the road of freedom and the life that we have today,” Jantz said.
Over the course of their involvement, the Straffons — with the support of former Clinton Township Supervisor Robert Cannon and numerous other community partners — built Clinton Township’s event into one of the largest Wreaths Across America events in Michigan.
“The community involvement has increased every year,” said Frank Oldani, director of family services for the Mt. Elliott Cemetery Association. “I believe last year we were the second-largest cemetery in the state of Michigan behind Fort Custer (National Cemetery) in Battle Creek in our participation and number of wreaths that were distributed.”
The Clinton Township Kiwanis Club took over the event organization from the Straffons in 2024. Along with promoting the event, the club helps by raising funds to purchase wreaths. For the 2025 wreath-laying, a donation of $17 would cover the cost of a single wreath while $500 would cover about 30 wreaths. Donors can receive a banner in exchange for their donation. While donations for 2025 closed on Dec. 1, Jantz says any further donations will be put toward buying wreaths for 2026.
Wreaths, however, cannot lay themselves and numerous civic groups, Scouting groups, service organizations, companies and individuals are set to come out to Resurrection Cemetery in order to ensure as many of the cemetery’s interred veterans as possible are honored. Jantz estimates the cemetery has about 10,000 veterans graves.
Before the wreath-laying occurs, attendees will hear from various speakers during a remembrance ceremony to be emceed by state Rep. Joe Aragona, R-Clinton Township. The keynote speaker for the event is Brig. Gen. Leah Voelker, commander of the Michigan Air National Guard’s 127th Wing and the commanding officer at Selfridge Air National Guard Base. The ceremony is to begin at noon on Saturday, Dec. 13.