We Need Your Help!

An open letter to our readers.

Dear Friends,

My Name is Joshua Ledina. I am 17 years old, and I am a Senior at Rancho Bernardo High School in San Diego California. I would like to respectfully request your support and assistance with a very noble and important cause . . . The Cause of Remembering and Honoring our Fallen Veterans . . . our Heroes. It is a cause that is very near and dear to my heart, and I know that it is also a very personal and important cause for many people as well.

Allow me to explain and provide a bit more detail. I am a Boy Scout dual registered with Troop 654 in San Diego California and Troop 691 in Orange County. I am currently at the Life Scout rank working on achieving the highest rank of Eagle Scout. I am expecting to complete and earn that distinction by the end of 2021. As part of the requirements to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout, a scout must complete an Eagle Scout Service Project. I had planned to do my Eagle Scout service project last year based on a Wreaths Across America (WAA) event at the US National Cemetery in Riverside California.

WAA's mission is to REMEMBER, HONOR and TEACH ---- REMEMBER our Fallen Veterans; HONOR those who Serve; and TEACH our Children the Value of Freedom.

However, due to the Covid-19 restrictions last year, the event was cancelled, and I had to change my project. I have been planning to do that for my Eagle service project since 2017, when we volunteered at a WAA event in honor of my late sister, Nicole ... who passed away at the age of 19, from a rare autoimmune condition that year. I chose to do WAA as my service project since Nicole regularly volunteered providing music and music therapy at veteran, senior and homeless events/organizations. Some of her most rewarding experiences were working with Veterans so WAA seemed appropriate and a good fit to honor her. My grandfather, CWO3 Amorsolo M. Ledina, USN Ret., is also a Vietnam Veteran and we have many individuals in our extended family who have served our country, so I wanted to honor them as well.

We ended up volunteering at a San Diego location that year and it was amazing to see how Honor, Remember, and Teach were fully embodied in the ceremony, event, and people present. It also appeared that they achieved 100% coverage, or really close to it, of veterans laid to rest there that were honored with a wreath. It was such a beautiful sight!!

So, as I was planning for my service project, I started looking at other sites in the area that needed more help, and my research came up with the Riverside National Cemetery. At the time I noticed that only about 2% or less of the more than 230 thousand veterans interred there were being honored.

I really felt the calling to try to improve that ... and thus my Eagle Service project was born. Although I had to replace the project for my official Eagle Scout requirements last year, I still intend to do the same WAA project I have planned as an additional community service project with my Scouting Units and other community organizations.

As you can see it is quite sad and a bit disappointing that we have more than 200,000 fallen veterans at Riverside National Cemetery, along with their sacrifices, and service to our country that appear to have been Forgotten . . . Let’s not Forget these Heroes!

So, this is where I need your help. Saturday December 18, 2021, is WAA Day this year. There will be events and wreath laying ceremonies conducted at over 1000 sites across the country that day.

We have established a WAA sponsorship/volunteer group in partnership with my late sister's foundation, Empathy is the Remedy Foundation. Our goal is to take on the challenge of Riverside National Cemetery ----- I am told it is one of the largest, if not the largest in the Western part of the county ---- raise that very low 2% number (only about 3000-4000 wreaths on average have been placed there in recent years) and remember as many of the 250K fallen Veterans resting there as possible.

There are 3 ways for you to help:

Sponsor Wreaths - that will be placed to Remember and Honor Fallen Veterans - We have thousands of wreaths to make up for this year so if you are able, please consider sponsoring multiple wreaths. There are various sponsorship levels lower and higher but the most popular are 5 wreaths for $75. The cut off for 2021 orders is by November 30, 2021, however orders can be taken year around and roll into the following period after this date.

Register to Volunteer - We will need help onsite to lay the thousands of wreaths we are able to get sponsored and other activities to support the event. We will have volunteers coming from all over Southern California and even places farther to participate. If you can come to Riverside National Cemetery, please consider volunteering your time and register with us on our custom WAA page. Ceremony is scheduled to start at 9AM however volunteers will be needed before and after the ceremony. Details and timeslots will be provided to registered volunteers prior to the event as soon as released by the site coordinators. Link will be in the description below. Make sure that under "I plan to attend with" you select "My WAA Sponsorship Group or Company" and enter/choose "Empathy is the Remedy Foundation (CA0664P) Supporting: Riverside National Cemetery (CARNCR).

Spread the Word - Lets make this event and cause go viral - Share on Facebook, IG, Twitter, and social media. Invite your friends, family, and contacts to Sponsor, Volunteer, and Spread the Word as well. Please direct all parties to our dedicated WAA link to Sponsor Wreaths and Register to Volunteer. We want to be able to track our group's contribution to the goal and send communications as required. The link is here. Make sure that under "I plan to attend with" you select "My WAA Sponsorship Group or Company" and enter/choose "Empathy is the Remedy Foundation (CA0664P)” Supporting: Riverside National Cemetery (CARNCR)

Also remember we are doing this service project in partnership with WAA and my late sister's foundation Empathy is the Remedy Foundation - both are registered 501 c 3 non- profit organizations.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I hope you and your organization agree that all the Fallen Heroes at the Riverside National Cemetery deserve to be honored and remembered for their service and sacrifice to our country.

Sincerely,

Joshua Ledina

BSA Life Scout Order of the Arrow Brotherhood Member

Troop 619 – Irvine & Troop 654 – San Diego

 

When registering to volunteer:

Make sure that under

"I plan to attend with"

You select

"My WAA Sponsorship Group or Company" and

Enter/choose

"Empathy is the Remedy Foundation (CA0664P)” Supporting: Riverside National Cemetery (CARNCR)