World War II Weekend: Paying the Bills

We've been very fortunate this year to garner tons of support in the community for our World War II Weekend and just wanted to take a moment to express our gratitude.

The event sponsor this year is PECO, who's philosophy on giving is "we put our energy into the community." They support the history and culture of the Philadelphia region both with monetary donations of $5 million dollars annually and the thousands of hours of volunteer time their employees invest.

Hatboro Federal Savings Bank, with branches in Hatboro, Warminster, Warrington, and Jamison, printed and hung a banner advertising our event across the main street in the middle of Hatboro (and we're receiving many calls of inquiry from those who have seen it). Hatboro Federal offers personal checking and savings accounts, investments, mortgages, home equity loans, and more.

Our Iwo Jima level sponsors included the following:

Babylon Business Campus, on Horsham Road, offers 16 single story multi purpose buildings and a 3 story office tower. The complex is designed with flexibility in mind and can meet the needs of any business. It is ideally suited for research and development facilities, high tech manufacturing, distribution and corporate offices.

Classic Pistol, in Southampton, is a state-of-the-art indoor shooting range and professional gun shop. They also offer a wide assortment of ammunition, accessories and cleaning equipment, and firearms training and education by certified instructors.

The Greater Horsham Chamber of Commerce is the voice of business in the Horsham area and an advocate for the community.They promote Horsham, its resources, and the area’s businesses, aiming to retain employers in the township and attract new ones. GHCC works closely with Horsham’s legislators, Horsham Township government, the Hatboro-Horsham School District and the nonprofit organizations that are so vital to the community.

The McDonald's franchises in Hatboro and Horsham supported us with a donation of all the coffee and drink cups, napkins, sugar packets, stirrers, creamers and the like that we'll need throughout the weekend in our food tent. Purchasing these items ourselves really adds to our expenses, so in-kind donations like this make a big impact.

Our Battle of Midway level sponsors include:

Beneficial Bank of Hatboro, located in the Rosemore Shopping Center on County Line Road. Beneficial offers personal banking, mortgages and loans, wealth management, and business and insurance services.

Giant Food Stores of North Wales and Horsham provided us with payment in the form of Giant gift cards, which we are able to use to purchase some of the food and supplies we'll need for the weekend.

Additional supporters include Acme Markets of Horsham, who provided a gift card to buy supplies, Dunkin' Donuts of Horsham who are supplying donuts to feed the troops, Earthborne, who is helping us move the tank on site at a discounted rate, Giuseppe's Pizza and Family Restaurant of Willow Grove who is giving us a discount on the hoagies, Open Aire Affairs, who own the rental tent here at Graeme Park and allow us to use it, along with tables and chairs, for our larger events, and Premium King who are printing the staff t-shirts and discounting the commemorative t-shirts for us.

Our advertisers include: CEMI Automotive, Knuckleball Sports Cards, Al Cherry Tree Service, Susquehanna Bank, Trovoto Nutrition, Retirement Planning Specialists, Roslyn Supply Co., James Cherry Tree and Landscape, Injection Connection, Matthew Proud Masonry, and Graeme Park Pizza.

Because of all of this wonderful community support, we are able to offer affordable admission of just $10 for adults ($15 for the weekend); $5/day for teens 13-17 and seniors 65+; and free for kids 12 and under and all veterans and current service personnel.

A Soldier's Christmas

Peace on Earth. It’s such a central message of the Christmas season, but wars don’t stop for Christmas. Nor do they prevent Christmas from being celebrated by soldiers far from home fighting for that peace. In fact, many of our beloved Christmas traditions came out of wartime celebrations. Prior to the Revolutionary War, Christmas in America was a quiet religious occasion and not celebrated with a lot of outward festivities. Many historians credit the Hessian soldiers from Germany, who fought in America alongside the British, with introducing Christmas trees to the United States.

Decorated trees were just starting to catch on when the Civil War broke out, and at least one account records Civil War soldiers as decorating their tree with “hard tack and pork” – materials they had on hand, just as they would have used popcorn, dried fruit, pine cones, and homemade paper decorations had they been celebrating at home. Our modern vision of Santa Claus also comes out of the Civil War. Cartoonist Thomas Nast used his editorial drawings to express his political opinions and his image of Santa as a jolly fat man with a white beard in a fur-trimmed suit delivering gifts to the Union soldiers is the image that caught on and remains with us today, although Santa's suit has changed from the stars and stripes of the Nast version to the red velvet we know today.

Later generations of soldiers did their best to maintain established traditions that reminded them of home, with visits from Santa, wrapped gifts arriving from loved ones, decorations, and if possible a special Christmas meal.

On Saturday, November 24, 2012 the grounds and first floor of the Keith House at Graeme Park will be open for free tours from 3:00-8:00 p.m. with soldiers representing different wars encamped on the property demonstrating how Christmas was celebrated on the battlefront during different eras throughout our history. Crafts and refreshments will be available for purchase.

Call 215-343-0965 for details. Directions are available on our website at www.graemepark.org.