LAKE ISABELL, Calif. (KERO) — If you want to help out, you can call the Kern River Valley Chamber of Commerce at 760-379-5236.
- Starting around 2018, the Kern River Valley Chamber of Commerce started setting up flags along Lake Isabella Boulevard on major holidays.
- The chamber owns roughly 400 flags and will set-up 350 of them at a time.
Residents can sponsor the flags for a $25 annual fee. All that money goes toward maintaining and replacing flags.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Before the sun has risen completely in Lake Isabella, a small group of dedicated volunteers meet at a storage locker.
Then they start loading American flags into a truck.
“We have at our last count it was 400 flags. We generally put up about 350 at a time,” said Karrie Bunting.
Bunting is the Vice-president of the Kern River Chamber of Commerce and she helps coordinate Flags on the Boulevard.
“We meet at the storage unit and then we have to load up the right number of flags for each section,” Bunting said.
Then, they set-up the flags.
“And we drive slowly down the boulevard and we grab the flags and put them in,” Bunting said.
There were roughly seven volunteers when I went with them on the morning of Veterans Day - and they were just one of three groups who put the flags up that morning.
“I think my biggest satisfaction is watching the youth get involved,” Bunting said
Youth like high schooler Miliani Barraza.
“There is a lot of work to it but it’s also just the simple fact of you want to be there to help and give back to the people that served you and your country,” Barraza said.
Barraza told me it’s important to her as someone who has veterans in her family
“My dad, grandpa, my uncles.”
With even younger volunteers pitching in.
“I just really like the setting of this day, this is a really good valley,” said volunteer Finn.
It was the first time helping set-up these flags for Finn
“It's important to honor our veterans.”
The Kern River Valley Chamber of Commerce organizes Flags on the Boulevard – they get put up on several major holidays – but bunting says it takes volunteers.
“Many hands make light work. When we put up our flags on the Holiday it requires manpower. If we had a helping hand to do that we could put them up faster, maybe on more occasions.”
Once they’re all set-up -
“I think it’s beautiful. We have a beautiful breeze up here that makes the flags unfurl and blow in the wind,” Bunting said.
“It gives that sense of community and everyone comes together to really give back and say thank you.”
“Is there anything you'd like to add about your experience today?” I asked Finn.
“I’d like to add, if you are a veteran and you are watching this, thank you for your service and I hope you are having a great day,” Finn said
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