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Hanford Insider: Honoring Heroes, Community News, and Holiday Celebrations!

• Rob Bentley

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Unlock the heart of Hanford's community spirit as we promise an episode filled with compelling stories, impactful local news, and festive events. Featuring Missy Chavez, we shine a spotlight on the Wreaths Across America event that brings our community together to honor veterans at Grangeville Cemetery. This episode also delves into significant news, including the closure of the Del Monte plant and the latest changes in the Hanford City Council, where new leadership is taking the helm. We introduce the MyHanford app, an innovative tool to simplify city service requests, and discuss our city's proactive steps to tackle homelessness through a planned homeless navigation center.

Join us as we celebrate the dedication of Kings County volunteers, inspired by Rich Rhodes' poignant discovery of unmarked veterans' graves, galvanizing a movement to secure wreaths for every hero. We express gratitude to donors and share a personal connection to the heartfelt theme, "Say Their Name." From festive community events like the Episcopal Church's Christmas Around the World to the Nutcracker ballet and the Run Run Rudolph charity run, our calendar is packed with holiday cheer. As we wrap up, we encourage listeners to share their thoughts via our survey, ensuring Hanford Insider remains a cherished community resource.

You can find the Hanford Insider at www.hanfordinsider.com and on social media at @hanfordinsider
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Speaker 1:

On this week's episode of the Hanford Insider. We'll hear from Missy Chavez about this Saturday's Wreaths Across America event at the Grangeville Cemetery. Rob will have a quick check of the December community calendar and I'll be back later with your sports report. This is the Hanford Insider for Monday, december 9th. Hey everybody.

Speaker 2:

This is Rob Bentley. For those of you who are new to the show, welcome to Hanford Insider's weekly podcast that releases every Monday. I cover a little bit of everything from Hanford news, a community calendar, and my son, eric, who works in sports, gives us a rundown of local high school sports each week during the school year. I try to keep things light and positive in such a negative world. I hope you enjoy the format. I'm always looking for more human interest stories and a little bit later in the show I'll let you know how you can get involved. Next week's episode will be my last for 2024. I'll be posting some best of episodes during the break and I'll be back with all new shows on January 13th. To prepare for these shows, I need your help. I'm putting out a listener survey to get some feedback on the show. I'll be sending the survey out to my subscribers via email. If you're not a subscriber, you can go to hanfordinsidercom and join the list, and I have a special surprise for you if you take time to complete the survey. Your feedback is so important to me. I want the Insider to be a great community resource for you, but I need to know your preferences for programming. I want to thank those of you who have already completed the survey. I'm already putting some of your suggestions to use and I'll continue to work to make the show better when I return in January.

Speaker 2:

Last Friday night, lois and I had a great night in downtown Hanford. After she did the Christmas tree walk, we had a great meal at El Tarasco and then attended the Griswold LaSalle Christmas Window Unveiling Party. This is at the old Hanford Furniture Building that for years had the most amazing window displays. The law firm has added to their display for the last five years and it just keeps on getting better and better. You have to check it out. The main event was at our annual Brass Caroling Group going around and playing music for the Main Street Hanford Wine and Chocolate Tasting Event. My friends and I also had a chance to serenade the Kings County Grand Jury at their Christmas party at the Winter Wonderland North Pole Lounge. If you haven't experienced downtown Hanford at Christmas, you really should check it out. In community news, kmph-tv is reporting that the Del Monte plant in Hanford is set to close. The company did not say when the closure would be or how many employees will be affected, but they did say that the transaction will not impact Del Monte Foods' branded tomato business, which includes Del Monte Contadina, take Root Organics and S&W. There was a special city council meeting held on Thursday evening recognizing outgoing council member Martin Devine and the swearing-in of new council members Nancy Howes and Kimber Reagan. Lou Martinez was chosen as the 69th mayor of Hanford and former mayor Travis Payton will now serve as vice mayor.

Speaker 2:

The Hanford City Council met last Tuesday evening and in the study session the council had the chance to review the new my Hanford app, which is a great new tool for residents. Currently, the app has about a dozen request categories. Examples include report a pothole report, an animal control issue, report graffiti on public property and report broken playground equipment. When submitting a request, citizens must identify their location and they can upload photos if desired and answer any applicable questions. The requests are then sent to the appropriate city staff for resolution. Some requests submitted through MyHanford, such as report a code violation, may be entered and tracked in a separate software program already in use by the staff. More categories can be added to MyHanford if necessary. Download the app and start using it today.

Speaker 2:

There were a number of issues discussed during the regular meeting, including a lengthy review of recent revisions to municipal codes and such. At the end of the meeting, mark Kyrus challenged the council members and city staff to come up with a plan to bring the community up to speed on efforts to combat the problem of homelessness in town. This may come in the form of a community town hall or some type of media campaign. I'm sure once the entire city council is seated on December 17th we'll hear more about this challenge as part of the effort to combat homelessness in Hanford at the December 11th Site Plan Review Committee meeting they'll be reviewing plans for a new homeless navigation center at the corner of 10th Avenue and Hanford Armowner Road. This is just one step in the process to provide more services to our unhoused community.

Speaker 2:

This Christmas the Episcopal Church of the Savior is sponsoring Christmas around the world. For their meal on Christmas Day they're looking for anyone interested in preparing a special dish from another country to serve. They also are seeking musicians to perform at this holiday event. If you're interested, please email volunteer at scsaviororg. The Miss Kings County organization has announced that they are now accepting applications for their annual competition, which will be held on February 15th. For more information, email misskingscountyorg at gmailcom.

Speaker 2:

Here are some things coming up on our community calendar. On December 11th, adventist Health is holding a tree lighting ceremony in support of hospice services at 6 pm on the Courtyard Patio. For more information, go to AdventistHealthorg. On December 13th and 14th, the Bethel Ballet will present the Nutcracker at the Hanford Fox Theater. For more information and tickets, visit FoxHanfordcom. For more information and tickets, visit foxhanfordcom.

Speaker 2:

The downtown Hanford Run Run Rudolph two-mile run-walk benefiting the Hanford Police Activities League will be held on Sunday, december 15th. Go to runsignupcom to get registered today. The Children's Storybook Garden and Museum is holding Cookies and Milk with Santa on Sunday, december 15th at 2 pm. Visit childrenstorybookgardenorg for details. The King Symphony Orchestra will be presenting their annual Christmas at the Fox on Sunday, december 15th at 4 pm. This year the choirs from the local high schools will be joining in this festive event. For tickets, visit foxhanfordcom.

Speaker 2:

This is the last week for the Kings County's Asian Experiences at the Carnegie Museum of Kings County. The museum will be closed on Saturday for a special event, but will be open on Friday and Sunday from 1 to 5 pm. Part 2 showcases local Asian communities in the years following World War II. Specific displays focus on the histories, cultures and traditions of the Japanese, chinese, filipino and Hmong in the area. Visit carnegiemuseumofkingscountyorg for more information.

Speaker 2:

On Christmas Eve, winter Wonderland will be hosting Storytime with Santa in the Civic Auditorium at 5 and 7 pm. You'll be reading Twas the Night Before Christmas. Milk and cookies are being provided by Rosa Farms. The event is free. If you have an event coming up and you'd like some help getting the word out, let's work together. Send your information to hanfordinsider at gmailcom. Be sure to subscribe to my weekly newsletter to get a complete calendar of events. It's fantastic to have on the show with us Missy Chavez, who organizes the Wreaths Across America in Hanford and Kings County, and we're so delighted to have you on the show, missy Chavez, who organizes the Wreaths Across America in Hanford and Kings County, and we're so delighted to have you on the show, missy. Missy, can you tell us about the Wreaths Across America program and what it's all about?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, it's a nonprofit organization. It actually is international, in the United States and a few select countries. It began in 1992 when the founder had he was a wreath maker and he found that at the end of the Christmas season he had an excess of too many wreaths so he just on his own decided to go and take the extras to the Arlington National Cemetery to lay them on veteran headstones. And that was the start and then, from you know that kind of caught on the general public and the community and then he turned it into this organization that has spread, like I said, across the United States and into a few countries, has spread, like I said, across the United States and into a few countries.

Speaker 3:

That is the gist of what Wreaths Across America is. We fundraise all year long to lay these live, fresh wreaths that we get every year new fresh wreaths and we lay them on veteran headstones. They are ceremonial wreaths that we do in December and as we lay them on the headstone we say the veteran's name. That's another part of Wreaths Across America that they are honored and remembered for. Here in Kings County it's all volunteer base, so we signed up to be a location six years ago. This will be our sixth year, and the first year we did it just in the Grangeville Cemetery in Armona and now we have spread to also covering Stoll, grangeville Cemetery and then also L'Amour and Sunflower Cemeteries in L'Amour and Calvary Cemetery in Hanford.

Speaker 2:

So I understand you've already been working out at the cemetery getting things ready. How are the preparations going?

Speaker 3:

They're going great.

Speaker 3:

We are fully funded for covering all the veterans in the cemeteries that we cover.

Speaker 3:

This past weekend, yesterday, we were out at the locations marking the graves and we just clear any leaves or weeds or anything around the headstones.

Speaker 3:

So they're all prepped and ready. And then this coming Saturday, on December 14th, is when we have our ceremony day, and our ceremony is at 11 am at the Grangeville Cemetery in Armona, one central ceremony for all the cemeteries here in Kings County. And then the ceremony is usually 30, 40-ish minutes and we invite the public, the community it's a great family event, the community, it's a great family event. And then after the ceremony, everybody is released to lay the wreaths at Grangeville Cemetery or if they'd like to go to Lemoore or Calvary cemeteries, they can. One thing I forgot to say on the ceremony day is at 10 am, an hour before the ceremony, we have a private family time where, if you have a loved one, a family member, who is a veteran and buried in one of the cemeteries that we're covering, you can come at 10 am if you'd like to personally lay your wreath on the headstone and just have that private, special moment, quiet moment, before the crowds come.

Speaker 2:

I understand you had some challenges recently with finding some previously undiscovered veterans' graves and you had the community rise to the challenge to fund that. Tell us a little bit about how that happened.

Speaker 3:

Yes. So Rich Rhodes is the director of the Lemoore Cemetery District. He went above and beyond this year. He always has been so supportive of us, but this year he really just went above and beyond.

Speaker 3:

I keep saying our theme this year is live with purpose and he definitely lived out his purpose by taking it upon himself months and months, several month-long project where he was out personally walking Lamar cemeteries and Grangeville cemeteries stone by stone and comparing those with what is marked on the stone, with what they have on their records and just syncing everything and making sure that every veteran is accounted for. He was telling me that back in the 80s and prior to that, even not everybody would mark the form, or maybe they didn't even have forms. I can't remember the details, but of course there are some times where they have a veteran buried and the cemetery district is not aware that they're a veteran, unless the family tells them or claims it, of course, as a veteran. And so he just really scoured over the records and with the actual headstones to compare because I know I have found myself in previous years we get the list of veterans from the cemetery and and then when we're out there we'll see a headstone that has some kind of military marking on it, and then we find they're oh, they're not on the list.

Speaker 3:

So, for whatever reason, whether the family claimed them as veteran or not or whatever, there's multiple factors of how that can happen. But yeah, as a result of all that, we found, oh goodness, I believe it was close to around 200 veterans for Grangeville, and I don't remember the exact number for L'Amour, but we so we were short as of a couple, maybe two or three weeks ago, we ago that caused us to be a little short and, yes, as you said, the community really rose to the occasion and I'd say within a week we were fully covered and funded. That's great, yeah.

Speaker 2:

So the community definitely rallied to the cause, and I know you have some organizations you'd like to thank, especially the ones who have contributed to this effort.

Speaker 3:

Yes, we have so many that the list is quite long, from businesses and organizations and individuals in the community who have donated large amounts to help us in our efforts, to community sponsor who goes online to sponsor one wreath for $17. They all matter. Every single wreath does matter and, like I said, we do have a very long list and it will be in our program at the ceremony on this Saturday, on the 14th, and so I will be posting that on our Facebook group as well. Our Facebook group is Kings County Wreaths Across America. We will be posting the names of all of those donors and sponsors there.

Speaker 2:

That's so wonderful that the community definitely came to the rescue, as it were. I remember the post several weeks ago about this discovery and the panic that ensued, making sure that every veteran gets the recognition that they deserve. Missy, I've known you for a while and I know you have some special connections to the military, and what made you, what got you motivated to get involved in the Wreaths Across America program?

Speaker 3:

Well, my as you probably you know, my husband passed away. He was a military veteran as well, and it'll be nine years in February that he passed away and in 2019, which is three years after he passed away. In 2019, which is three years after he passed away, I stumbled across Reads Across America. I had never heard of them before and I wasn't looking for them. I don't even remember exactly how I found them. It just popped up on my Google search or my feed or whatever their theme that year was, say their Name, and that just really caught my attention because, like I said, it had been three years after my husband passed and was just kind of starting to feel like nobody says his name anymore. You know, all that attention, I guess, if you will, and remembrance, of course, I know everybody who knew him remembers him, so that just resonated with me. So then I started looking into it. What was it? What did it involve? And I got really interested of wanting to bring it here. He would have loved something like this.

Speaker 3:

He bled military.

Speaker 3:

I always told him he should be a military recruiter, because any young person he talked to, he would always try to get them to join the military and he just really I know, when we first got married and it was Veterans Day I really just remember this so vividly we were praying for our meal and he just got teary-eyed military buddies that had passed on for whatever reason or struggled with depression or PTSD. He had a real heart for the military, and so I thought that this would just be something really great to honor his legacy. And the first year we did it, my daughter at the time was in 4-H and she was needing to do an Emerald Star project, which is something for the community. So her and her friend, wiley Brajas they were in oh goodness what grade I think seventh grade at the time oh goodness what grade I think seventh grade at the time and so they took this on as their Emerald Star project, of course with the help of me and Wiley's mom, brandon Verahas, and that was our first year and it has continued on then.

Speaker 2:

Well, that's wonderful, missy. You know finding that connection is so important. I know that when I play taps at these events I do it in honor of my father who is a United States Navy veteran, and it's finding that kind of connection to the military community is so important. And, once again, everybody. The ceremony is at 11 am on Saturday, december 14th, at the Grangeville Cemetery. Families can show up as early as 10 if they want to lay a wreath on their loved one's grave. And, missy, if someone wanted to donate I know there's never a cutoff for donations. You're always seeking donations because this is quite an undertaking. How can they reach you and what's a good way to be able to support the Wreaths Across America program in Kings County?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, they can reach me. Like I said, we do have a Facebook group called Kings County Wreaths Across America. I believe I'll double check when we get off that. If you hit either the pinned or the featured tab in that group, there'll be a link posted there that you can hit. It'll take you to the Wreaths Across America website. There'll be a drop down menu where you can choose if you want L'Amour, Grangeville or Calvary Cemetery and sponsor your wreath.

Speaker 2:

That's wonderful. I'll make sure to link that on my page as well, so that more people can have access to it. And, missy, on behalf of Hanford, I would like to thank you for all the work that you do for our veterans, and especially for this exciting program which is Wreaths Across America. Thank you for joining us.

Speaker 3:

Thank you. Thank you for having me, and now it's time for Hanford Insider Sports with Eric Bentley.

Speaker 1:

In sports action. Winter sports are fully underway and there's quite a bit of basketball and soccer action to catch you up on. We'll start with basketball, where, on the boys side, Hanford High was able to go two and two in their four games, falling to Sanger and Centennial and taking down Frontier and El Diamante by double figures. Hanford West was unable to pick up a victory as they fell to Danuba and Mission Oak, and Sierra Pacific took the floor three times, beating McFarland before falling in two close games 66-57 to Atwater and 69-62 to Stockdale. On the girls' basketball side of things, Hanford High was only in action once, falling to Kerman in a low-scoring game 41-22. Hanford West was unable to pick up a win in either of their two games, as Dinuba and Mission Oak were able to get the better of the Huskies, and Sierra Pacific continues to impress early on in the season as they went 3-0 in the Nike Central Valley Showdown. At Clovis West, the Golden Bears were able to defeat Southridge in a nail-biting 59-58 game, then took down Del Oro 56-48, and finished off with a dominating 63-24 win over Cornerstone Christian. This week they'll take their talents across the country as head coach Victor Chavarin Jr will lead the Lady Golden Bears to Washington DC to take on some of the top teams in the country.

Speaker 1:

And in soccer action on the boys' side, Hanford High split their two games, taking down Tranquility 5-1 and falling to El Diamante 1-0. Hanford West fell in a 1-0 match with Corcoran and Sierra Pacific fell to Kalinga 5-3. On the girls' soccer side of things, Hanford West went 1-1, taking down Fireball 3-0 before being shut out by Santa Maria. Hanford High also split their two matches, beating Dinuba 5-0 before Rigetti got the better of the Bullpups 1-0, and Sierra Pacific was able to beat Menache by a final score of 2-1. As always, we like to cover as many local sports as possible, so if you have a score report or a story idea, make sure to email hanfordinsider at gmailcom. I'm Eric Bentley and this has been your Hanford Insider Sports Report.

Speaker 2:

Well, that's all the time we have for this week's show. Next week we'll have a year-in-review show with Travis Payton and Brian Johnson. If you enjoyed this podcast and you'd like to show your support, you can go to buymeacoffeecom slash Hanford Insider to make a donation. If you'd like to join the Hanford Insider email list, stop by my website at hanfordinsidercom to sign up for updates. You'll also get an exclusive copy of my newsletter in your inbox each week. I also need your help getting the word out about the show by liking and sharing on social media or telling a friend For more information about the show. You can find this podcast on Facebook, instagram, threads X and YouTube at Hanford Insider. I'm also now on TikTok at Hanford Insider 1. If you have a show idea, be sure to email me at hanfordinsider at gmailcom and I'll look into it. Thanks for listening. Drive safely in the fog and have a great week.

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