The Worcester Wreath Co. of Columbia Falls, Maine, referring to its supplying of the Christmas wreaths placed on every veterans’ graves in thousands of cemeteries across the country each year, including 145 of the 155 national cemeteries, by the organization Wreaths Across America, proudly boasts on its website's "About Us” page, (emphasis added):
“It is from these same sacred forests that the wreaths used by Wreaths Across America in the annual wreath-laying ceremonies are handcrafted. We’re honored and proud that our commitment to integrity and quality led to them to choose us as their provider of quality wreaths.”
To put it plainly, this statement is total bullshit.
Wreaths Across America didn’t choose the Worcester Wreath Co., and certainly not because of its integrity. Wreaths Across America was created by Morrill Worcester, the owner of the Worcester Wreath Co., and Morrill Worcester’s wife, Karen Worcester, is the executive director of Wreaths Across America!
In other words, the Worcesters’ for-profit Christmas wreath company created a non-profit organization that has a need for millions of Christmas wreaths every year, then their non-profit gave the contract for these millions of Christmas wreaths to none other than their own for-profit company.
So, how much money are we talking about here? Well, according to their latest available tax return, the Worcesters’ non-profit Wreaths Across America took in nearly $25 million in donations in 2019 and then paid nearly $17 million of that to their for-profit wreath company to produce the wreaths.
The Worcesters have faced much criticism in the past for the profitable incestuous relationship between their non-profit organization and their for-profit Christmas wreath company. In 2015, The Wall Street Journal came out with an article titled “Wreaths Across America Has Family Ties to Its Supplier,” and in 2018, an article from Nonprofit Quarterly magazine, titled “Wreaths Across America: Is a Nonprofit Built on Conflict of Interest Still a Nonprofit?,” revealed more details, such as that not long after the Worcester Wreath Co. lost its decades-old contract with L.L. Bean, which had provided 90% of its business, the Worcesters’ non-profit Wreaths Across America expanded, and as of 2018 was providing between 75 and 80 percent of the Worcester Wreath Co.’s revenue. More locally, The Portland Press Herald reported, also in 2018, in an article titled “As Wreaths Across America has grown, so has scrutiny about its practices,” that “In five years the company has nearly tripled its business from the nonprofit.” The article also noted that “CharityWatch listed Wreaths Across America among three ‘outrageous’ examples of nonprofits operating with clear conflicts of interest.”
In 2016, apparently for show, Wreath Across America instituted a bidding process to quell all the criticism it was getting after a 2015 Money Talks News article titled “Should You Donate to Wreaths Across America? A Lesson in Charitable Giving,” was widely distributed by outlets such as Yahoo” News, but the Worcester Wreath Co. provided the only bid in this bidding process, and now has its role as the sole wreath supplier for Wreaths Across America locked in until 2023.
While all of this information about the incestuous money-making relationship between Wreaths Across America and the Worcester Wreath Co. deserves attention, it is not the primary concern that the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) has with Wreaths Across America.
As I wrote in a previous post titled “Wreaths Across America: Forcing veterans who didn’t celebrate Xmas in life to celebrate it in death,” MRFF’s issue with this so-called “non-profit” is their indiscriminate placing of their Christmas wreaths on every single grave in Arlington National Cemetery and thousands of other cemeteries where our country’s veterans are buried, with no regard at all to the religion of the veteran buried at any given gravesite. A number of photos, like the one below, have emerged of Wreaths Across America Christmas wreaths being laid on the graves of Jewish veterans whose gravestones are clearly marked with the Star of David.
Every year MRFF gets a slew of complaints about Wreaths Across America. In my last post, I included an email from this year, from a person who enlisted MRFF’s help to stop a wreath from being placed on her grandfathers grave. In this post I’m including an email from 2013, written by a Jewish veteran who had seen news coverage of Wreaths Across America’s wreath-blanketing of Arlington National Cemetery that year:
From: (Jewish veteran’s name withheld)
Date: December 17, 2013 at 10:46:07 AM MST
To: "info@militaryreligiousfreedom.org" <info@militaryreligiousfreedom.org>
Subject: Wreaths Across America
Mikey,
Who or what is this organization Wreaths Across America? Their website carefully skirts questions of religion and Christianity, but their sole purpose seems to be placing green and red wreaths on soldiers' graves, first at Arlington and now at every national cemetery they can get to. They have gotten a lot of coverage from Washington, DC area television.
The wreath colors and the fact that they only place wreaths for one day, Christmas, demonstrates that this is a public endorsement of a particular faith.
My first impression from a news piece was that it was nice to see some color at Arlington on a cold and snowy day. My second reaction was to get in touch with you because the TV camera focused in on a tombstone and wreath; the stone was clearly marked with a Magen David. That made me realize that I could have been that soldier, and I know that I would have been offended.
If the wreaths were colored (blue ribbon for Jews, green for Muslims, etc.), I would have found the display less offensive, but still a Constitutional violation. If Jews' graves were undecorated at Christmas, but got blue and white wreaths to commemorate a Jewish holiday, that would have been still better, but would still have raised flags.
Can you do something to divert the efforts of Wreaths Across America for 2014? It's probably too late for 2013.
Warm regards,
(Jewish veteran’s name withheld)
While the Jewish veteran who wrote the above email – along with just about everybody else – recognizes an evergreen wreath with a red bow as a distinctly Christmas decoration, Wreaths Across America claims that they are not Christmas wreaths. As the Colorado Springs Gazette reported yesterday in a front page story covering MRFF’s battle to keep these wreaths off of the graves of those whose families don’t want them:
“Amber Caron, spokeswoman for the Maine-headquartered Wreaths Across America, said the wreaths, each hand made of 10 boughs of balsam tied with a red velveteen bow, are veterans’ wreaths, not Christmas wreaths.”
Really? They’re not Christmas wreaths? Then why does the Worcester Wreath Co. advertise them as … um … Christmas wreaths? That’s right, the Worcester Wreath Co. sells on its website an item it calls the “Patriot Pair.” By purchasing this item, a shopper buys two of the type of wreaths that Worcester Wreath Co. sells to Wreaths across America, one for themselves and one to be placed on a veterans grave. And, as the screenshot below from the Worcester Wreath Co.’s website shows, these wreaths are clearly advertised as Christmas wreaths.
Seriously, is there any other time of the year except Christmas that people decorate with evergreen wreaths adorned with big red bows?
And then there’s the fact that the wreaths are placed on the graves at Christmastime. If these are simply “veterans’ wreaths,” as the Wreaths Across America spokesperson claims, wouldn’t Veterans Day or Memorial Day be more appropriate times to honor veterans with them?
And then there’s the coloring book that Wreaths Across America has created for children, which they provide a PDF of on their website. This coloring book goes through the alphabet, assigning a meaning to each letter, and guess what the letter “C” stands for. Yeah … you guessed it … Christmas!
Wreaths Across America founder and Worcester Wreath company owner Morrill Worcester claims that the wreaths have no religious significance at all, and yet in a video explaining the meaning of each of the ten balsam bouquets that make up each wreath, he says that the first bouquet ““stands for the veteran’s faith in God,”
In my previous post I linked to this video on YouTube, and shortly thereafter it was made private by Wreaths Across America. (Yes, how about that, as soon as MRFF linked to their video it was made private. I’m shocked!) Not to worry, though. we saved a copy. Here’s the clip where Mr. Worcester clearly says that his wreaths are, in fact, religious:
The Wreaths Across America website also has a downloadable PDF “poster” explaining the significance of each bouquet, and that, too, states that the first bouquet symbolizes the veteran’s “faith in God” as one of the “10 special qualities that our veterans embody.”
It appears that from the very start of their “non-profit” organization, the Worcesters knew that placing Christmas wreaths on Jewish graves would be problematic. On the FAQ page of their very first website, way back in 2006, one of the questions answered was: ‘Do you place wreaths on Jewish or non-Christian graves?”
Their answer to that question was:
“Prior to the wreath-laying ceremonies, participants are instructed to observe the grave marker and only place wreaths on graves bearing the Christian cross. Wreaths will only be placed at the headstones of Christian and non-denominational graves.
“Both the Arlington Wreath Project and Wreaths Across America profess no political or religious agenda - but rather wish to remember and honor our veterans during the holidays - a time of traditional family get togethers - and teach our children that we are able to do so, in peace, because of the many sacrifices made by our military men and women.”
So, right there, at the very start of their cemetery wreath-bombing business, they obviously knew that placing Christmas wreaths on “Jewish or non-Christian” graves would generate complaints. Why did they have these concerns if their Christmas wreaths aren’t symbols of Christianity?
And their claim that they only place their wreaths on graves marked with a Christian cross has not been the reality.
Not surprisingly, one military location that participates in the blanketing of its cemetery with Wreaths Across America Christmas wreaths is the Air Force Academy, where any regard for non-Christian religions went out the window a long time ago. In light of the Academy’s abysmal record when it comes to respecting other religions, MRFF founder and president Mikey Weinstein sent the following demand to the Academy’s superintendent, Lieutenant General Richard Clark, ahead of Wreaths Across America’s self-proclaimed “National Wreaths Across America Day,” which this year is on Saturday, December 18, so let’s wrap things up with that.
From: Michael L Weinstein <mikeyw4444@icloud.com>
Subject: MRFF Demand for USAFA's Constitutional Compliance RE: "Wreaths Across America" Saturation Scheme at USAFA Cemetery
Date: December 3, 2021 at 10:34:02 AM MST
To: "BGen. Richard Clark" <richard.clark@usafa.edu>
Lt. General Richard M. Clark,
On behalf of numerous United States Air Force Academy(USAFA) faculty, cadet, staff, and graduate Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) complainants, MRFF DEMANDS that you ensure that your planned December 18, 2021 collaboration with the for-profit, Christian proselytizing company known as “Wreaths Across America” (please see your USAFA-sanctioned official call for participation statement from yesterday here: https://www.wreathsacrossamerica.org/pages/33065) ABSOLUTELY complies with all U.S. Constitutional mandates of separation of church and state, all germane and construing Federal caselaw, all DoD and USAF Directives, Instructions and Regulations, the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and the Core Values of the United States Air Force.
General Clark, based on THIS overarching declaration of specific intent statement (see immediately below in red highlight) from that above-referenced, USAFA-sanctioned E-mail blast from yesterday, you’re actually going have to DO something to comply with MRFF’s demand here and do it fast:
"Our goal is to lay a wreath on the grave of EVERY veteran resting in our cemetery. With your help, we will make this the fifth consecutive year that we will accomplish this goal.” (emphasis added)
The purpose of this MRFF demand to you is not to lay out a complex legal brief for you and your lawyers. You’re supposed to be the head person at USAFA, and this is YOUR decision and not that of the thousands of your underlings and subordinates who are no doubt intimidated by your present rank and position.
If YOU can’t figure out why MRFF is aggressively objecting to your nefarious plans to saturate and adorn EVERY veterans’ grave at the USAFA cemetery with a sectarian, nonsecular Christmas wreath, conveniently provided by the for-profit, Christian-proselytizing company “Wreaths Across America,” that is YOUR problem, and we will be MORE than happy to present our full arguments in Federal Court in Denver, Colorado as we’ve done before vs. USAFA. Nevertheless, in that regard, I will kindly provide you with one KEY USAF regulatory instruction, AFI 1-1, Section 2.12:
AFI 1-1, Section 2.12 (emphasis added):
“2.12. Balance of Free Exercise of Religion and Establishment Clause. Leaders at all levels must balance constitutional protections for their own free exercise of religion, including individual expressions of religious beliefs, and the constitutional prohibition against governmental establishment of religion. They must ensure their words and actions cannot reasonably be construed to be officially endorsing or disapproving of, or extending preferential treatment for any faith, belief, or absence of belief.”
Please be advised, General Clark, that this referenced Air Force Instruction (AFI 1-1, Section 2.12) is NOT merely “advisory” in nature but, quite on the contrary, is “directive,” meaning that its violation by Air Force “leaders at all levels” (you, for example) may be cause for criminal prosecution under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). See paragraph 2 on the cover page, which succinctly states:
"This instruction is directive in nature and failure to adhere to the standards set out in this instruction can form the basis for adverse action under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). An example would be a dereliction of duty offense under Article 92."
Look, General Clark, MRFF has NO PROBLEM with the placing of these blatantly sectarian and nonsecular Christian Christmas wreaths if and only if:
(1) The family of a deceased veteran in the USAFA cemetery has expressly requested the placement of such a Christmas wreath on their loved one’s grave; or,
(2) the for-profit, Christian proselytizing company “Wreaths Across America” has otherwise received express and explicit prior approval from a veteran’s next of kin to place such a Christmas wreath on their deceased loved one’s grave at the USAFA cemetery.
It is MRFF’s hope, General, that the incontrovertibly utter and shocking immorality, unethically, unconstitutionality, and related illegality of sticking a blatantly sectarian Christian holiday symbol on the sacred gravesites of deceased veterans at the USAFA cemetery, WITHOUT initially satisfying either of the above two proof requirements, would be OBVIOUS to you and your multitude of USAFA staffers?!
Indeed, General Clark, by not only allowing but effusively encouraging participation in the current “Wreaths Across America” gravesite saturation scheme from those under your direct command, as well as the USAFA graduate community, how could USAFA be MORE repulsively bereft of compassion, empathy, unity, inclusion, equality, and diversity than THAT?!
I will swiftly follow up this E-mail with several others which are germane to MRFF’s instant demand that you ENSURE that USAFA comports with all legal and regulatory mandates of church-state separation et al, as specifically referenced in this E-mail, regarding USAFA’s planned and widely advertised collaboration with the for-profit, Christian proselytizing company known as “Wreaths Across America”.
Please advise ASAP as to your decision here, General Clark. We at MRFF, on behalf of our many USAFA faculty, cadet, staff, and graduate clients, will be earnestly standing by to receive and evaluate it.
If we do not receive a timely response from you, then we will consider THAT dismal failure to comply to be our answer.
Michael L. “Mikey” Weinstein
Founder and President
Military Religious Freedom Foundation
505-250-7727
