Support the Freeport Flag Ladies!

Jean Yarbrough is the esteemed professor of political science at Bowdoin College and the author of American Virtues: Thomas Jefferson on the Character of a Free People. She has forwarded an email message from the Flag Ladies of Freeport seeking financial support for their observation of the tenth anniversary of 9/11. JoAnn Miller and Elaine Green — two of the three Flag Ladies of Freeport — write:

We the Freeport Flag Ladies need your help!

This year being the 10th anniversary of the events of 9-11 we are working to put on three days of events to commemorate [it]. We have been working very hard for several months and we find due to the economy and many other circumstances that we need to turn to the general public to raise the funds needed for this event. We need to raise $30,000 and we are turning to each of you to ask for your help. This event is non-political — it is about remembering our past, honoring our heroes. We will be asking each of you to place a $1.00 bill in an envelope and send it to the:

The Freeport Flag Ladies
9-11 10th Anniversary
17 School Street
Freeport, ME 04032

We ask that you share this email with your family, friends and coworkers. It is our sincere hope that dollar-by-dollar we can make this event happen.

In a message to her friends Professor Yarbrough explains:

This appeal comes from the Freeport Flag Ladies, who have faithfully stood watch every Tuesday morning since 9/11/01. They drive up to Bangor to see off troops bound for Afgahnistan and Iraq, taking photos of them, often the last ones their families will have, giving them Lincoln pennies and tiny flags and telling them that there are people in America who care about them and honor them.

Whenever they can, they are in Bangor to greet returning troops, but they rightly believe that being there for the departure of these young men and women is more important and they never miss that — even though the military flights out of Bangor generally take place in the wee small hours of the morning.

They spoke to my DAR chapter last spring and I was moved to tears by their simple but absolutely firm dedication. Now they are asking for donations in preparation for the tenth anniversary of 9/11. These are three patriotic women, and I ask your support as well as your help in passing this on to others who may be willing to make a contribution. I am not asking you to do anything that I would not do, and I shall be the first to send them a check (for considerably more than $1) tomorrow. Please consider helping out and passing this along to others who might be similarly inclined.

Meet the Flag Ladies of Freeport: Carmen, Elaine, and JoAnn.
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The ladies have their own must-see site and Facebook page. I know there are readers who will want to help them.

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