A new initiative has come to Estevan to create awareness among school students about those who served their country.
No Stone Left Alone is being brought to Estevan by Elyse Mantei, whose father was in the military for 40 years. Local students will attend the city cemetery for a ceremony that will include music, poetry, a moment of silence and the laying of a wreath.
“At the end, each kid get a poppy, and they go to the gravesite of a veteran, put the poppy down and they thank the veteran for their service, and say whatever else they want to out of respect,” said Mantei.
A closing ceremony wraps up the activity.
“It’s just to let kids know that our fallen soldiers will never be forgotten. We can always appreciate everything they did for our country,” said Mantei.
The Grade 7 and 8 students from Sacred Heart School/École SacréCoeur and Pleasantdale School were scheduled to be there Monday, but those plans were postponed, since temperatures were colder than normal. The students would have had to walk to the cemetery due to COVID-19 restrictions. Their visit has been tentatively moved to Friday.
Also slated to participate are kids from St. Mary’s School on Nov. 15. Since it’s a weekend, parents will bring them to the cemetery.
“They’re very excited about it. The children seem really, really excited to learn and to go to the cemetery and do the ceremonies,” said Maintei.
Mantei’s father, John Wilkinson of Moose Jaw, was approached six years ago about running this program in Saskatchewan.
Since that time, it has grown to other communities in the province. Mantei believes Estevan is the eighth community in the province to be involved.
“The program has only been in Canada since 2011, and it started in Edmonton. Now it’s spread across Canada. As of 2018, I believe it was just under 300,000 poppies laid,” she said.
So not only is this a program that is very meaningful to her, with a strong personal connection, it’s a way to teach younger people about the importance of honouring veterans and their sacrifices.
“Once veterans pass on, we want to make sure that they know they will never be forgotten. We will always remember what they did for our country, for our families, for everybody. A way of showing our respect, and showing them that we will never forget them is to leave a poppy on their gravestone. Their stone will never be left alone; it will never be forgotten,” said Mantei.
Mantei is hopeful that this program can grow next year to the other schools in the city and possibly Bienfait Weldon School, but the potential to do it this year was limited due to COVID-19.
“Due to the circumstances this year, we weren’t able to do as much, so that’s why we’ve had to resort to doing smaller ceremonies, with separate schools at a time. So hopefully we’ll be able to do it bigger next year.”
And she hopes that this can become part of Remembrance Day efforts at local schools moving forward.
