VALLEY FORGE — The Military Order of the World Wars hosted its national convention in King of Prussia, bringing together various veteran organizations to promote youth leadership and patriotism throughout the United States.
MOWW, a patriotic nonpartisan organization established in 1919 with 76 chapters throughout the United States, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, aims to support veterans, youth and first responders through educational and service programs.
“We are serving others than ourselves, in favor of our youth, community and nation,” said MOWW’s Commander-in-Chief Victor S. Perez. “We are fostering and encouraging civic education in our country.”
Representatives of Founding Forward Deepak Bhagat and Carolyn E. Santangelo speaking about their Spirit of America program. (ELISSA ODEH/MEDIANEWS GROUP)
The Aug. 6-11 event included meetings, panels and activities for attendees, as well as educational tours of historic Philadelphia sites.
MOWW provided booths for several of their partners to promote their work and encourage involvement and participation.
One booth was for Patriotic Education Incorporated, a nonprofit founded to educate the American public on the history and principles of the United States through publishing educational material to foster patriotism and citizenry.
Chris Chapman speaking on the Wreaths Across America radio station. (ELISSA ODEH/MEDIANEWS GROUP)
The event also promoted MOWW’s annual National Youth Civics Summit, which provides an opportunity for several high school students to embark on a journey in Washington, D.C., to enhance their civic knowledge.
Vice Commander in Chief of MOWW and NYCS Committee Chairman Edward Gantt said that this idea was inspired by MOWW’s annual youth conferences.
“MOWW conducts about 25 of those youth leadership conferences all around the country that teach civic education and civil responsibility,” said Gantt. “I proposed to the MOWW leadership that we take the best student from each one of those youth leadership conferences in other places and bring them all to Washington, D.C. for one week to see the things they’ve learned about in books.”
During the first NYCS in July, students explored some of the most important monuments in Washington, D.C., speaking to different political personalities including a U.S. Congressman and a British Attaché.
Members of Founding Forward were also present at the event to promote their civic education programs for the youth.
A partner of MOWW, Founding Forward is a national nonprofit based in Valley Forge that was born through the merging of the Union Legacy Foundation and Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge.
Deepak Bhagat, Associate Director of Education at Founding Forward, introduced their educational and leadership programs that aim to educate individuals and encourage them to uphold the values and principles of the United States.
Their core program is Spirit of America, a four-day youth leadership program that invites high school students from all over the United States to teach students about America’s history and develop their leadership skills.
“Throughout the year, we run about 15 to 16 Spirit of America programs, and that’s where we partner with the Military Order of the World Wars; they sponsor students to attend our Spirit of America program,” said Bhagat.
Bhagat said that the program works to keep students connected through engaging sessions, activities and workshops.
“We focus on promoting student agency and essentially making them take an active role in that weekend program,” said Bhagat. “We want to make sure kids are really delving into the work and not just being passive learners.”
Senior Director of Chapter and Partner Relations Carolyn E. Santangelo said that the organization is working to attract more youths to their program.
“Our goal is to have our campus filled with students almost 15 weeks out of 52 of the year and to reach as many students and engage them civically as much as possible,” said Santangelo.
On-site to also promote their work was Wreaths Across America, another partner of MOWW and a nonprofit that began as a small wreath-laying tradition in Virginia and has now become a nationwide organization that works to honor veterans through offering wreaths for a veteran’s memory.
“It went from 5000 wreaths in 1992 when it first started to 3.2 million last year,” said Chris Chapman, Radio Program Manager at Wreaths. “We went from Arlington National Cemetery to more than 4200 cemeteries all around the world.”
Wreaths also runs patriotic and civic educational programs for youth, with curriculums designed to expand knowledge and build a sense of civic responsibility in children.
As an organization, Wreaths heavily relies on volunteers. “We have maybe 60 people that work and over 3 million volunteers,” said Chapman. “They donate their time, the fuel, the truck and everything because they’re passionate about supporting veterans.”
MOWW’s Convention ran for 6 days, hosting various events from seminars to meetings and to panels, ensuring that it propagates a sense of patriotism, leadership and community.
MOWW aims to provide a place for veterans to continue their service after retirement.
“The goal is that when we come out, we could continue our life of service,” said Perez. “Because service comes from your heart and volunteering comes out of your heart.”
Through its numerous youth programs, MOWW hopes to plant the love of service in future generations.
“What we hope for is that they, one of these days, are going to become one of those leaders,” said Perez. “They’re either going to become a congressman, governor or senator. But again, they understand that the most important of everything is that you are going to be a responsible individual in this society and do whatever it takes to make sure that our country continues to be strong and prosperous.”
West Chester Daily Local News correspondent Elissa Odeh contributed this article and photos
Originally Published: August 22, 2024 at 8:28 a.m.
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Publish date : 2024-08-22 05:29:00
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