The Muncie Exchange Club said the fundraiser will raise anywhere from $17,000 to $20,000 with the proceeds going to the Boys and Girls Club, Prevention of Child Abuse Delaware County and Amvets Post 12.
Muncie Exchange Club placed 1,000 American flags at Minnetrista for their fifth annual Flags of Honor fundraiser that lasts from Sept. 4-11.
Community members can pay $30 to attach a ribbon to a flag in remembrance for anyone they want.
Bob Rector, chairman of the Flags of Honor display and treasurer of the Muncie Exchange Club, said the fundraiser will raise anywhere from $17,000 to $20,000 with the proceeds going to the Boys and Girls Club, Prevention of Child Abuse Delaware County and Amvets Post 12.
He said that it gives people a chance to “reflect on those people who run in when we run away.”
"There really is a big significance to it since its based around 9/11. That happened at 9/11, you know, people were running out of the towers and firefighters were running in probably knowing that they might die,” he said.
Mike Goad, a veteran and Muncie resident, said the display of flags meant a lot to him because of his family’s involvement in the military.
"We had a nephew, he was killed three years ago in Afghanistan in August of 2014. He was due to come home and he volunteered to stay another month,” Goad said. “He was a special forces major, and the day he'd be going home, he got killed by a suicide bomber. He was 42 or 43, something like that, with three kids."
His wife, Joyce Goad, has traveled outside of the U.S. and said people don’t understand how good they have it.
"You can't really get the whole concept until you go there and see how their lives are. In Turkey its totally different... You can whine about this and that, but there is no place like the U.S.A. It makes you proud to be an American."
She said the display touches her heart and that it’s a good representation of all the Americans that are currently serving.
Robert Beavers, a member of the exchange club, said its been a moving experience for him seeing tears in the eyes of community members while they walk through the display.
He also believes the display is needed to help bring Americans together.
"It’s a very patriotic thing to do. I think right now we need to have as many patriotic events going on as we can in our country to try and pull it together," he said.
The closing ceremony for the Flags of Honor is at 6 p.m. on Monday and volunteers interested in taking down the display can gather at Minnetrista at 10 a.m. on Tuesday.
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