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NALP Experience: Renewal
THE THE NALP NALPEXPERIENEXPERIENCECE
Renewal & Remembrance: Then and Now
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By Jill Odom
2020 WOULD HAVE MARKED
Renewal & Remembrance’s 25th year that NALP members came together to serve at Arlington National Cemetery. Over the years this event has evolved and grown. It was started by the Professional Lawn Care Association of America (PLCAA, a legacy organization of NALP) as a volunteer event. Renewal & Remembrance was first held in February 1996 and only had 50 volunteers.
Since then the event is now held in July and the attendance is typically 400 to 500 volunteers with their families. The work has changed as well. For years, NALP had been liming the grounds but in 2016 they found they had finally corrected the soil pH so liming was no longer needed.
Collaborating with the Arlington staff, NALP has moved on to expanding the aeration program and focused on improving water conservation with irrigation system updates. Volunteers have also helped on hardscape installation projects, adding lightning protection to trees and installing annual flowers.
The Children’s Program, which is a favorite of many volunteers, was also added early on as Miles Kuperus, Jr., owner of Farmside Landscape & Design in Sussex, New Jersey, and his wife Lisa Kuperus, wanted to create
a formal children’s program that their kids could participate in.
Every year the Children’s Program is different and provides a history lesson. For instance in 2016, the children placed flowers and pennies on gravestones in Section 21, where the first nurses were allowed to be buried. In 2018, the children learned about caisson horses and planted annuals near the USS Maine Memorial.
While this year’s in-person event was canceled due to COVID-19, NALP members are eager to return next year and express their gratitude to the many who paid the ultimate price for freedom.
The next Renewal & Remembrance will be held on Monday, July 19, 2021, while the Legislative Days on the Hill, will be held in conjunction with the Workforce Summit in late winter/early spring of 2021. TLP
