More than 1,200 volunteers showed up September 7 at the Houston National Cemetery for the Flags for the Fallen Event, the 9/11 National Day of Service. The event was organized by the organization Just Serve in collaboration with the American Red Cross and over 60 agency partners as an opportunity to remember those killed and injured September 11, 2001. The event also paid homage to countless First Responders and US Armed Forces members protecting our nation at home and around the globe.

The Houston National Cemetery became a national cemetery in 1973, is listed on the National Register of Historical Places and is slightly smaller than Arlington National Cemetery [MOU1] As of 2021, more than 111,000 people were interred there.

According to Maren Will, co-director of the event, with her husband Ken, Just Serve is a two-part organization, funded by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

“The Just Serve website allows any organization with service opportunities to put that into the Just Serve portal. It’s a one-stop shop for service opportunities worldwide,” said Will. “We feel very strongly in the church about serving others and not making it about ourselves. And encouraging our members and the community to serve their fellow men like today. This is organized by Just Serve with the help of wonderful partners like the Red Cross. And so, it all goes back to the service aspect of it.”

The event brought together people of all ages and backgrounds to clean the gravesites and the lawns at the cemetery. “It was a phenomenal response,” said Will.

When The Church of Latter-day Saints asked the Red Cross for help, Kimberly Knights, Service to Armed Forces Director, for the Texas Gulf Coast Region was very excited to offer her service.

“We work with the Church of Latter-day Saints in different aspects,” said Knights. “They’re a big donor to the Red Cross. We do many things with them, many projects. And they came to us to be a part of it this year. We were gladly able to step to it.” Kimberly smiled, “I’ve enjoyed working with Maren Will and her husband and the rest of the community organizations here.”

The Red Cross has served the nation’s military personnel and their families for over 140 years. This is including active duty, National Guard, reserve, and veterans across the nation.

“To complete this project, it took the whole team,” said Knights. “It was all hands-on deck. It was a tremendous undertaking, but we were glad to do it. It’s what we do in our department. We work with our veterans. This is right down our alley. We’re very happy to be here at this event.”

Both Red Cross staff and volunteers participated in the event.

“Any time we can insert ourselves into helping families or be a part of our veteran or military community, we’re happy to do so,” said Knights.

“When we met with Kimberly, she was immediately willing to take a major role at this event, said Will.” “It was not a small task, but we asked them to go over the logistics aspect of it and we have been so grateful and impressed in working with the Red Cross in this capacity.”

Kimberly expresses the importance of coming out to the veteran cemetery and paying your respects to our veterans by helping clean their graves and thanking them for making the ultimate sacrifice for our county.

“There was a family that came out today with two little girls to help clean the graves, this brought tears to my eyes, just watching them carefully scrub the gravestones and show their respect meant everything to me because I am also a veteran and I know the importance of remembering our fallen,” said Knights.

The Service to the Armed Forces (SAF) mission is to provide care and comfort to the members of the United States Armed Forces and their families.  The SAF team supports military families during deployments and emergencies; serves in military and veterans’ hospitals, conducts emergency communications and continues supporting our nation’s veterans after their service ends. The team also adapts services and creates new programs to meet the needs of today’s military members, veterans, and their families. Learn more information, https://www.redcross.org/about-us/our-work/military-families.html.

Story By: Francisco Philibert