VOL. 17 ISSUE NO. 27   |   JULY 6 – 12, 2011

JULY 6, 2011

VHP’s Barbara Hatch Honored with NSDAR’s Medal for Education

WASHINGTON – The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR) awarded Cactus Shadows High School History Teacher and Executive Director of the Veterans Heritage Project, Barbara Hatch, the Mary Smith Lockwood Founders’ Medal for Education, during the National Defense Night celebration at their 120th annual Continental Congress, on July 1, 2011, in Washington DC.  NSDAR President General Merry Wright presented this prestigious award.  The evening’s keynote speaker was U.S. Army General Raymond T. Odierno, recently named Army Chief of Staff.  As part of his keynote speech, the General recognized Barbara’s work and the value of the Veterans Heritage Project as fundamental to preserving essential American principals. 

The Carefree-based, non-profit Veterans Heritage Project (VHP) is dedicated to preserving the stories of America’s veterans. Mrs. Hatch and her students have published seven volumes of Since You Asked, Arizona Veterans Share Their Memories (2005-2011) containing approximately 400 veterans’ stories written and preserved by almost 150 students from several local schools. VHP also permanently archives the veterans’ videos at the Library of Congress’s Veterans’ History Project.

Her speech touched upon how VHP connects veterans and students, and how the program provides a basis for shared understanding, healing, mentoring, leadership, and the fostering of national pride. She called for action – to bring the program to local schools across Arizona and the nation; and to call upon VHP to help mentor, train, and support them as they become self sustaining projects, perpetuating the essence of our great nation.

The DAR Continental Congress is a time-honored tradition that has been held in Washington, D.C. as the annual national meeting of the membership since the organization’s founding. Over 3,000 members, one from each chapter worldwide, attended the week-long Congress out of the 165,000 member organizations.

VHP is dedicated to helping establish VHP-chapters at local high schools, provide training, mentoring, and hands-on support of teachers, students, and veterans in this important endeavor.  For more information on VHP or if you are interested in supporting this exceptional, growing program, please contact Barbara Hatch at [email protected], visit www.veteransheritage.org, or write to Veterans Heritage Project, POB 1297, Carefree, AZ 85377-1297.

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