Respectfully Retired

Area patriots retire some old flags, post others

CELINA -The sight of the American flag waving in the midday afternoon for many evokes patriotism, unity, pride and purpose.

Looking to honor the nation while at once raising funds for nonprofit endeavors, Celina Scouts have teamed up with the Celina Rotary Club to offer the American Flag Display Project.

For a nominal subscription price, Cub Scout Pack 69 and BSA Troop 69 will post an American flag in front of a home or business or at the Veterans Memorial at Lake Shore Park in Celina, on four federal holidays and Celina Lake Festival.

The flags will stay up for about a week and then be taken down and properly stored and maintained, according to Ryan Snyder, Celina Cub Scout Master and Assistant Scout Master for BSA Troop 69.

The initiative takes all the work out of displaying Old Glory during Independence Day, Celina Lake Festival, Labor Day and Sept. 11, Veterans Day and Memorial Day, in a show of patriotic reverence.

"It reminds you that it is a holiday, it's not just another day off work. There's something more to it. So that's kind of the idea of why they go in and out instead of staying up all year," Snyder explained.

Flag maintenance is also entrusted to Scouts, who dispose of worn-out flags in accordance with federally recognized customs and standards, chiefly by incinerating them to ashes, sometimes with ceremonies describing what the flag and its symbols represent.

"We want them to be looking good and fresh and new, and Scouts are one of the organizations that retire flags," Snyder pointed out. "The Cub Scouts actually just did a flag retirement, kind of around Veterans Day, and our Boy Scout Troop is going to do one at their upcoming camp out. … The last one was at the American Legion, and they were kind enough (to provide) a bugler and 21-gun salute."

The American Flag Display Project service area is within the city limits, the north side of the lake from Celina to the Grand Lake Health/Premier Health North YMCA, Silver Lakes and Menchoffer Woods. Those who live outside the serve area can still sponsor a flag at the Veterans Memorial in Celina.

Prior to installation, Scouts will mark an area with spray paint, generally 3 feet from the sidewalk toward the residence, and call in a utility marking service to check for underground lines, Snyder said.

A a few days later, Scouts will permanently install a 11/2 foot plastic sleeve, flush with the ground. The sleeve is covered with a red plastic cap when the flag is not in place.

Before the holidays, Scouts will install a metal support rod in the sleeve and atop of that, an 8-foot flagpole and 3-by-5-foot American flag.

"The flags were made in America. We went with plastic flag poles because we thought they looked a lot nicer than the metals ones, which a lot of other groups use," Snyder noted. "We have little golden balls on the top of our flagpoles, so it looks like a flagpole, not just a piece of plastic pipe."

Celina Rotarian Ike Coate presented the flag project to Scouts, saying it was inspired by the Wooster Rotary Club's Parade of Flags, which supports veterans services, civic projects and college scholarships, according to the club's website.

"They're putting up 1,200 flags," Coate said. "Over the years they've given out half a million dollars or more to other organizations."

Coate said he would like to see the American Flag Display Project embraced enthusiastically as Wooster Rotary Club's Parade of Flags.

"Hopefully we'll get like student councils and all kinds of other groups in it," he said.

The club paid for all of the materials as well as a smartphone ap for the Scouts to keep track of addresses signed up for what will be an annual service.

"He (Ike) said, 'The Rotary wants to do this project. It looks like a really good community project to beautify the community and a good fundraiser project that we can also put back into the community, but we just don't have enough manpower to get it done,'" Snyder recalled. "So we've got lots of kids and at least as importantly, certainly for the young ones who can't drive, we've got parents who are willing to help."

Cub Scout Pack 69 and BSA Troop 69 receives 60% of the proceeds to help funding Scouting activities and Celina Rotary Club 40% for its community service projects.

"It also is supporting the Rotary Club who has done all sorts of philanthropy," Snyder said. "It lets our Scouts support their unit and stuff that we do."

For instance, the project gives Scouts a chance to earn money for summer camp.

At present, there are 45 Cub Scouts and 40 Boy Scouts in in Celina.

"I think our unit has been one of the very few that has kind of maintained or even grown from pre-COVID levels. I think almost every other unit is half of what they were pre-COVID," Snyder remarked. "That's the general sense I get, even nationwide."

Snyder said he aims to make things fun for Scouts, regardless of what they're learning about. The overall goal is to instill the values and mindset that will help Scouts make moral and ethical decisions throughout their lives and become good citizens, according to Snyder.

"A lot of people - and I fall into the trap myself sometimes, too - think that Scouts is all about tying knots and starting fires and sleeping in the woods. But that is only the classroom that we use," he said "Those are some of the techniques that we might use but the whole purpose of Scouting is to make good people."

To accomplish that end, especially with the older kids, Scouts are put in situations where they must make choices.

"It's a safe place for them to fail," Snyder said. "They try to do something, and they fail at it and that's OK. It's kind of expected. But as long as you learn from it, that's what we're going for."

To learn more about the the American Flag Display Project, visit app.helpingwithflags.com/CelinaRotaryOH or celinarotary.org.