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Wreath project promotes 'Circle of Hope'
By PAULETTE LASH RITCHIE INVERNESS -- Members of the Citrus County Council of PTAs/PTSAs gathered one recent evening at Inverness Primary School to decorate wreaths made of grapevines or straw with ribbons, small hands, little people cutouts, flowers, glittering stars, hearts and flags. They wanted to be ready to join National PTA and Reader's Digest with a display of American solidarity on National Wreath of Remembrance Day, Nov. 21. The participating schools, Floral City Elementary, Inverness Primary, Crystal River Primary, Crystal River High, Hernando Elementary and Pleasant Grove Elementary, spent the evening cutting, arranging and gluing the wreaths, which were presented to school board and community members at a special ceremony at the School District Office on the day of observance. Pat Lancaster, the president-elect of Florida PTA, and Scott Hebert, School Education Chairman for Florida PTA, assisted the County Council with the decoration of the wreaths. National PTA and Reader's Digest hope National Wreath of Remembrance Day will be the beginning of a holiday season where Americans join together to remember the nation's loss on Sept. 11 with visible "Circle of Hope" wreaths. The wreaths can be patriotic or can display symbols of personal feelings. They can be designed to help children create tangible representations of how they feel. Those made by the Citrus County Council of PTAs were distributed to local community leaders at the brief ceremony Nov. 21. Inverness Mayor Joyce Rogers accepted one for the city and one for Mayor Ron Kitchen for Crystal River. Lt Mike Klyap and Detective Eddie McConnell accepted one for the Crystal River Police Department and Chief Joe Edwards received one for the Inverness Police Department. Chief Ray Hardy was given a wreath for the Inverness Fire Department, and one was sent to the Crystal River Fire Department. School board members Pat Deutschman, Carol Snyder and Ginger Bryant were there to accept one for the school board. Superintendent David Hickey accepted one for the school district along with Assistant Superintendent Linda Kelley, Executive Director for Management Services Mary Curry and Executive Director for Support Services James Hughes. And there in the district office, Inverness Primary School kindergarten and first-grade children sang "God Bless America."
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