The National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution Mahoning Chapter has wrapped up a busy December and are eagerly looking ahead to 2025 and 2026.

According to the website www.dar.org, the organization began in 1890 as a way for women to express their patriotic feelings and interest in the beginning of the United States. The local Mahoning Chapter was formed about three years later.

“Our chapter was organized on April 18, 1893 in Youngstown,” said Regent Kimberly Bland. “It was the second chapter organized in Ohio and the 64th in the national society.”

She said the current Mahoning chapter boasts a membership of 99 women and is very active in preserving history and supporting veterans. The month of December was a very busy month as the Mahoning Chapter lived up to its reputation.

Among the December programs the local DAR members partake in is the Santa bags project. This year they made up 60 bags for veterans in need.

“The Mahoning Chapter has been delivering Santa bags or Christmas stockings to the Carl Nunziato VA clinic on Belmont Avenue for over 10 years,” Bland said. “Many of the items are donated by the chapter members, along with items purchased this year with some of the funds raised from our annual Veterans Charity Golf Outing held the third Monday in May at the Youngstown Country Club.”

She said Lori Stone, who is in charge of the VA clinic food bank, lets the counselors know how many Santa bags or Christmas stockings the local chapter is filling each year.

“We were excited to find out that counselors were asking in advance to reserve our Santa bags for their veterans in need,” Bland said. “We filled 60 Santa bags this year, of which 48 were delivered to the VA Clinic and 12 were delivered to Veterans Haven.”

Another project the Mahoning Chapter took part in this month was the 2024 Wreaths Across America. Chapter members took part in the ceremony at the Columbiana Cemetery and at the Palmyra Main Cemetery in Diamond.

“We have donated to purchase wreaths in the past,” Bland said. “Our chapter has explored the possibility of sponsoring a Wreaths Across America Cemetery. We have hope at some point in the future that may be a possibility as we believe it is an important project and a truly meaningful way to honor our deceased veterans.”

A third project for the month was to participate in the Mill Creek MetroParks Festival of Trees at Fellows Riverside Gardens in Youngstown. The women have participated for over 10 years by decorating a tree for the display. The trees are on display through Dec. 31.

DAR member Bev Berger and her committee decorated the Mahoning Chapter tree with thoughts of America 250, which the women will be working on during 2025.

“The Mahoning Chapter is very excited to be a part of our country’s commemoration on July 4, 2026 for the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence,” Bland said. “The Mahoning Chapter supports the work of the Ohio Society DAR America 250 Committee whose goal is to mark 250 graves of under-represented Revolutionary War patriots buried in Ohio. Under-represented patriots are African American, women, Native American, Spanish, French, French-Canadian, Dutch and Jewish. The chapter has plans for a wreath laying for a Mahoning County female patriot in 2025 to support that goal.”

She added the Mahoning Chapter 250 committee also will dedicate a bench to honor veterans of the Revolutionary War to be placed at the Rocks at the Road of Remembrance on April 19, 2025, to commemorate the Battles of Lexington and Concord and the start of the war.

The Road of Remembrance was to honor servicemen from World War I. The Ohio legislature designated a portion of state Route 193 from Lake Erie to U.S, 422 in Youngstown as the Road of Remembrance on June 17, 1930. Local groups stepped up and planted trees and made memorials along the route to remember the veterans.

In Youngstown, a memorial was set up at the entrance to Forest Glen Estates on Market Street. The Mahoning Chapter of DAR was able to obtain large rocks from the battlefields at Lexington and Concord to be placed at that memorial for the Road of Remembrance that would serve to honor the veterans of the Revolutionary War.

As the women of the Mahoning Chapter of NSDAR usher in the new year on Jan. 1, they will be looking atr a busy one as they prepare to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Membership in DAR is open to any woman, 18 years or older, who can prove lineal, bloodline descent from an ancestor who aided in achieving American independence. She must provide documentation for each statement of birth, marriage and death, as well as of the Revolutionary War service of her Patriot ancestor. Contact can be made at www.dar.org or the Mahoning DAR chapter at www.mahoningdar.org for further information.