.
Suggested Group Activity
Make patriotic bookmarks for veterans or active service members. Mail them or deliver them them personally. FreeKidsCrafts.com has free printables for the bookmarks shown here.
Suggested Prerequisite
Completing the Volunteer for Veterans Patch Program® is a suggested prerequisite for earning your Patriotism Advocate Patch. Your volunteer experience will help provide you with the knowledge needed to advocate for patriotism for the people in your community. You can also opt to complete the Volunteer for Veterans requirements during the time you earn this patch.
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Requirement 1: Research It!
Things to find out:
- Who is in our active military? Helpful Link: Demographics of the U.S. Military
- What do our soldiers need? Helpful Link: Assessing the Needs of Soldiers and Their Families
- What is a Blue Star family? Helpful Link: About Blue Star Families
- How do you find a deployed soldier’s address? How to Adopt a Soldier
- What are the best things to send a soldier? Helpful Link: What to Send Someone Who Is Deployed
- How can you help a local family who has a member in the military? Helpful Link: Find a Chapter
- How many veterans does America have? Helpful Link: The Changing Face of America’s Veteran Population
- What is a Gold Star Family? Helpful Link: Gold Star Legacy
- What is an honor flight? Helpful Link: Honor Flight Network – Honoring Our Veterans
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Requirement 2: Do It!
Choose a patriotic issue to advocate for. Some ideas:
- Hand out fliers with items requested by our military and let people know where to send them.
- Make sure your community knows about the next local Honor Flight.
- Recruit volunteers for a project at the VA hospital.
- Create a social media campaign to remind people about the true meaning of Memorial Day.
- Before Veteran’s Day, Flag Day or Memorial Day remind your neighbors and local business about proper flag etiquette. Make a flyer hand out.
- Recruit students at your school for a wreath-laying or flag-laying project at a military cemetery.
- Get your community members to start flying the American flag everyday.
Who do you want to reach? Some ideas:
- Your Family
- Neighbors
- Politicians — Helpful link: How to Contact Your Elected Officials
- Classmates
- Your Fellow Worshipers
- Other Groups or Organizations
How will you reach them? Helpful link: How to Advocate for Your Cause
Some Ideas:
- Talk to them. Consider wearing a button as a conversation starter.
- Hand out flyers. Consider setting up a booth to collect donations if allowed.
- Hang tags on doors and mail boxes.
- Make posters.
- Reach out with social media such as Facebook.
- Send a press release to your local newspaper or school newspaper. Helpful link: How to write a press release.
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Requirement 3: Review It!
Always remember to thank those who helped with your advocacy program.
Ways to say Thank You:
- Personally thank individuals and businesses who helped. A hand written letter is always nice. Helpful Link: How to write a thank you letter.
- Thank the community as a whole with posters.
- Create a follow up press release and include the names of individuals and businesses who participated.
- Thank the community as a whole on social media.
- Give certificates of appreciation.
Discuss Your Advocacy Project
- Do you think your advocacy project helped to promote patriotism in your community?
- Will you continue?
- What else can you do to further promote patriotism?
Congratulations! You have earned the Patriotism Advocate patch. It can be purchased at our partner site MakingFriends®.com.
You can become a Community Advocate by earning all 5 community advocate level patches.
Did completing this Patch Program® give you some ideas for becoming a Patriotism Delegate?
See all our current Advocate level Patch Program®s:
Related Fun Patch Ideas:
Note: Many of the links provided to assist with completing our Patch Program®s are external and do not imply an endorsement or recommendation. At the time of publication, external content was vetted to the best of our ability. Your views and ideas may vary and we do not intend for you to substitute our opinions for yours. Research the topic thoroughly before beginning a project. As always, make sure children access the internet only under safe-surfing conditions.
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