Volunteer steps up to hang Hometown Heroes banners

By Mary-Justine Lanyon

 

Members of the Rim Blue Star Moms had reason to celebrate on Thursday, Aug. 1

The group is responsible for the Hometown Hero banners that hang across the mountain. These banners honor those men and women from the mountain who are on active duty; they all have a parent or relative who lives on the mountain. 

However, it had been over a year since a new banner was hung or a tattered banner was replaced. The reason? The Rim Blue Star Moms had lost their volunteer who used his bucket truck to hang the banners on the poles which rise high above the ground.

At the July 16 meeting of the Crestline Chamber of Commerce, Craig Phillips told the board and community members in attendance that his wife, Nadia, is a member of the Rim Blue Star Moms. He shared their inability to hang any new banners due to the lack of a bucket truck.

Office manager Tiffany took the initiative and contacted Josh Snyder, owner of Big Top Tree Service. Since Snyder had volunteered with Jamboree Days, she thought he might be willing to help the Blue Star Moms. And he was! On Thursday, Aug. 1, Snyder met a group of moms in Crestline, accompanied by his cousin, Derrick Hill, owner of Hill Tree Service.

With the moms guiding them, they hung and replaced several banners in Crestline and then moved on to Blue Jay and Running Springs.

Asked why he wanted to help with this project, Snyder said he has a number of family members in the military so it was important to him to help.

The first banner hung was for Jared Moore, the son of Mickey Flores-Caballero. Her son, she said, had been in the Army for three years and had just reenlisted. 

“He was a watercraft engineer in Israel,” Flores-Caballero said. She went on to say it took his crew three months to build a pier for deliveries of food and medical supplies for Gaza. “Then the weather destroyed the pier,” she said. Her son is now in Virginia but will soon be deployed to Japan for three years.

When military personnel leave their branch of service, their banners are retired and returned to the family. Genean Stafford was there to see her son Christopher Lanham’s banner retired. He is now attending college on the GI bill, she said. He is hoping to go to Ukraine as a contractor and help rebuild it. He is currently working at the veterans center at Valley College.

Danielle Vig was not able to be in Crestline on Aug. 1 to see her son Michael Vig’s banner go up. On the same pole Snyder raised a banner for her son-in-law, Benjamin White. Both young men are in the Army. 

Corey Rosario was also unable to attend but a banner went up for her daughter, Adrianne Ketelsen, who is in the Air Force.

A banner was already up for Angelica Wines’ son Robert Carrillo. Joining his banner on the same pole was a banner for Wines’ daughter, Sabrina Carrillo. Both are in the Army, stationed at the former Fort Bragg, now Fort Liberty in North Carolina.

Wines noted that having both children on the same base makes it easier for her to visit. “I’m the Army mom when I visit,” she said, saying she often looks after 10 or so soldiers. “It’s the best job I’ve ever had.”

Some cities, Alma Diaz, the Blue Star Mom in charge of the banners, noted, pay for the banners. “Unlike them,” she said, “we have to pay for our own banners. We fundraise all year to sustain the organization.” Some of those funds go toward the banners; the new ones cost $375. Parents can volunteer 25 hours at the Blue Star Moms events to earn points toward a banner.

During the year, they put together care packages and help out at events like the fishing trip for veterans sponsored by the Elks Lodge. 

“We welcome monetary donations,” Diaz said, “as well as snacks, granola bars, gum, single-serving size cookies, toiletries, cards and hand-written notes to send to our deployed.” Students at Lake Arrowhead Elementary School have been supportive for years, she added.

Anyone wishing to mail a donation may do so by sending it to Rim Blue Star Moms, P.O. Box 215, Lake Arrowhead, CA 92352.

The group meets on first Mondays at the Elks Lodge in Rimforest.

For more information, visit their website, www.rimbluestarmoms.org.