A lot of 10-year-old kids spend their free time watching television and playing video games. But Preston Sharp spends most of his in cemeteries. Every Sunday since last November, Preston and his mother have made a trip to Redding Memorial Park to show appreciation -- not only for their own family’s veteran, but for all of the military veterans laid to rest there.
JPR’s Victoria Reed got a first-hand look at Preston’s determination to honor the sacrifices that members of the military have made for their country
I’m standing at McDonald’s Chapel in Redding Memorial Park, where pairs of American flags and red carnations stand out against hundreds of headstones across the cemetery’s green lawn. At 9:30 a.m. the sun is shining brightly and it’s already 90 degrees. But that doesn’t bother 10-year-old Preston Sharp, who’s out here at least once a week, rain or shine, to honor veteran’s graves.
Preston got the idea to do this after last Veteran’s Day, when he visited his grandfather George Sharp’s grave and noticed that there weren’t any flowers or flags on the graves of other veterans. This bothered Preston. His mother, April Sharp, shares what he said to her.
“’You know, other people were in the military also and they fought for our country, so why doesn’t everybody have a flag and flower?’” she says. “So I’m like, “Son, if you feel that strongly, then you need to do something about it.”
After that, Preston set to work to fix this situation, saving up his own money and eventually setting up a GoFundMe page for donations so that he could continue to buy the flags and flowers he needs.
So far, Preston has succeeded in putting thousands of flags and flowers to honor each veteran’s grave in Redding Memorial Park, and returns periodically to clean the grave markers, straighten the flags, and replace any damaged flowers.
April admires her son’s dedication. She says that at first, she wasn’t sure how serious he was about committing to this task.
“And to be honest in the very beginning, I didn’t think he would get the entire cemetery done,” she says. “I really thought, ‘You know he’s ten.’ So I thought, ok, he’s going to start doing this and then he’s going to you know, get into Xbox or he’ll dwindle it out or whatever, and he’s gung ho as just as the first day.”
Since he’s completed his initial goal at Redding Memorial Park, Preston has moved on to honoring Redding’s Lawncrest Cemetery. Preston welcomes and encourages anyone to join him, and posts when he’ll be heading to the cemetery on his Facebook page.
Sergeant Tad Donoho, who was an Airborne Infantryman in the US Army for seven years, recently heard of what Preston has been doing. He is impressed by Preston’s dedication, and feels that his actions are a great way to show respect for veterans. Tad shared what he would do if he got the opportunity to meet Preston.
“I’d give him a hug, a handshake,” Donoho says. “I’d tell him to keep it up and hopefully he’s influencing his friends, you know he’s still young, and so if he is already doing this now hopefully his friends and family and people who just know about it fall in line and keep doing things like this.”
Tad hopes that one of Preston’s future goals is to honor the Northern California Veteran’s Cemetery in Igo, where one of Tad’s second cousins is buried. Luckily, Preston doesn’t plan to stop anytime soon, so Tad’s wish may eventually be granted. When asked how long he will continue to do this, Preston says …
“I will keep on doing it until I cannot bend down anymore, or if I don’t get funds, then I still will use my own money.”
Preston’s current goal is to finish Redding’s Lawncrest Cemetery. As always, he invites any volunteers to show up and help, or to donate to his GoFundMe page to help pay for all of those flags and flowers.