Dec 2, 2004 By Angie Santello 3 min read

Yellow ribbons, 2,500 all designed to support the troops, will soon dot the trees, doorways, posts and poles in Fayette County. The Yellow Ribbon Campaign, embarked upon by the 22 members of the Uniontown Exchange Club and 472 members of the Independent Pool League of Fayette County, will signify a remembrance of troops overseas, and there’s no better time than Christmas to share in that remembrance, especially with so many troops still overseas, said Carrie Lenardo, president of the Uniontown Exchange Club.

“At the beginning of the Iraqi conflict, the ribbons were everywhere,” Lenardo said. “Now, you see the stickers in support of the troops on the cars. That’s fine, but there’s nothing like a bright, shiny ribbon engaged in tradition and sends the message, ‘We miss you. Come home.'”

Ribbons will be hung starting Dec. 16. Members of the pool league will distribute the 2,500 ribbons.

Danna Whipkey, president of the pool league, said the ribbons show support for the soldiers and their families making a sacrifice.

“When they get home, it will welcome them home and it will show how many people were thinking and praying for them,” Whipkey said.

Exchange Club member Michalene McGarvey shared similar sentiments. She and her husband Dan spent hours cutting and curling the ribbons.

“Twenty-five hundred is not a lot, but it’s something from us to show we are thinking about them and praying for them,” McGarvey said.

The Uniontown Senior Citizens Center helped to fluff the ribbons, while Steve Neubauer of Neubauer’s Flowers donated ribbon, cutting the exchange club’s cost in half.

“Without his contribution, we were looking at $2,000,” Lenardo said.

The Uniontown Exchange Club was reorganized a year ago this past November. The club was previously disbanded in 1990.

Reorganized with all new members making up six different committees, the Uniontown Exchange Club is off to a good start, taking on several community projects.

The exchange club sent gift bags with toiletries such as toothpaste and mouthwash to the 24 Fayette County service members recovering from injuries in Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. The gift bags will be sent to the soldiers by Christmas.

Lenardo said Joe T. Joseph, Americanism Committee chairman for the Department of Pennsylvania American Legion, recently spoke to members of the exchange club, inspiring them to begin the campaign.

Lenardo said she doesn’t feel that 2,500 ribbons are many, considering 70,000 people reside in the county. But, she said, “If they can inspire one person, it’s all worth it.

“We need to remember it’s still going on. There’s people still out there that we can protect here,” she said. “If the ribbon brings to mind the memory of a loved one and gets them to say, ‘Hey, I’m thinking about you,’ then it’s worthwhile.”

According to Joseph, 150 people from Fayette County and the immediate area are deployed overseas, and the majority will not be home for Christmas.

An additional 200 are being treated for injuries at Walter Reed, Joseph said.

He added that each troop deployed has left a family behind, and it has been a group effort from a network of people in several different communities to ensure that they are hearing of the support and receiving the items of necessity they need.