Volunteers needed for Cathedral City event honoring veterans

The Rotary Clubs of Cathedral City is asking for volunteers to help with preparations for the Healing Field event starting this weekend at Patriot Park.

More than 5,000 U.S. flags will be set up at Patriot Park on 33998 Date Palm Drive in Cathedral City to honor the 7,012 men and women who have died in service to this country since 9/11.

Betsy Hayes, a Healing Field organizer, said they need volunteers of all ages to come to the park Friday at 8 a.m. to help prepare the field with the rebar for placement of the flags on Saturday.

Volunteers are also needed to attach the 7,012 name tags to the flag poles. Hayes says each name tag bears the name, rank, branch of service, age, and hometown of each fallen hero.

According to Hayes, volunteers will stand at the podium and read out loud the names of each of the 7,012 fallen heroes along with their personal details contained on each name tag.

Hayes added that they typically need around 100 volunteers to help with the event.

“We’re hoping to recruit as many community volunteers as possible now so we know who we can count on,” Hayes said. “We’ll also need volunteers to help us take down the flags on closing day, Saturday, November 16, so we can place them back into storage”.

If you would like to volunteer, contact Gillian Cross 760-578-1282 or send an email to gilliancross2016@gmail.com. You can also contact Betsy Hayes at 760-902-6031 or email bhayes@lamar.com.

This year marks the 14th annual Healing Field event organized by the Rotary Clubs of Cathedral City. According to the organization, the opening ceremony for this year's Healing Fields will be held at 9 a.m. on Saturday. The ceremony will feature guest speaker, Fred Bell of the Palm Springs Air Museum, a plane fly over, and the Cathedral City High Air Force ROTC, School Band, and Choirs.