October 27, 2009

Veterans, military service members honored in Indiana libraries

The program, sponsored by the Military Family Research Institute at Purdue University, is a way to recognize and honor the sacrifices made by current service members, veterans and deceased service members, said Kathy Broniarczyk, director of outreach for the Military Family Research Institute.

There also will be a celebration ceremony in Indianapolis to recognize this statewide initiative. The event, which is free and open to the public, is at 10 a.m. Nov. 9 at the Indiana State Library, 140 N. Senate Ave. Our Heroes' Tree program creators, Marlene Lee and Stephanie Pickup, will speak at the event. Also speaking will be Maj. Gen. R. Martin Umbarger from the Indiana National Guard and David McDaniel, educational outreach coordinator of performing arts and project manager of Celebration Crossing for the Indiana State Museum.

Libraries participating in the program have invited community members to create personalized ornaments to honor a soldier, sailor, airman, marine, Coast Guardsman, military veteran or fallen service member in their lives. Each ornament is hung on the Our Heroes' Tree in the community's library. These ornaments also are shared online at the Virtual Heroes' Tree. More information is available online at http://www.mfri.purdue.edu/

The Military Family Research Institute is a research and outreach organization based at Purdue. It's primarily supported by the Lilly Endowment and the Department of Defense.

Writer: Amy Patterson Neubert, 765-494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu

Source: Kathy Broniarczyk, 496-6013, kbroniar@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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