Andy Ladner and his veterans responded to a request for help to build park benches as part of a youth group’s service project to enhance Garner’s Veterans Memorial. The turnout surprised him. “We had no idea how many people would be here. I thought like 20 kids would show up,” said Ladner, the executive director of U.S. Veterans Corps, an organization that undertakes a variety of projects to help wounded veterans.
Instead of 20, hundreds of youths from Mormon congregations across southern Wake County converged on the memorial at Lake Benson Park last month to spruce up the site as part of a series of service projects in Garner, North Carolina.