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Flags for Roselle keeps Stars and Stripes flying

The sight of an American flag flapping in the breeze in the front yard of a Roselle home on Memorial Day gives Kay Cahill a warm feeling, a patriotic glow if you will.

But the sight of Old Glory flying in front of 244 houses makes the 86-year-old founder of the village's Flags for Roselle program want to stand up and cheer.

The project, now in its second year, depends on volunteers - mostly from Lake Park High School - to install 3-by-5-foot, weather-resistant flags in the yards of subscribers on Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, Patriot Day and Veterans Day.

The students wake up early on each of those holidays and head to the Roselle fire station where the flags are stored.

By 7 a.m., they're following routes designed by the village to deliver and install the banners on the front lawns of subscribers who pay $50 a year for the honor.

Proceeds from the project are distributed at year's end to the Lake Park Educational Foundation, the Roselle History Museum, American Legion Post 1084 and the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of Roselle.

"Seeing the flag does more to people than they think," Cahill says. "Patriotism is deep down there in everybody's heart."

Cahill began working on the project several years ago, spurred by her daughter, Kelly Barclay Deterding, a 1979 Lake Park grad, who created a similar program in the Mount Horeb and Blue Mound areas of Wisconsin.

"She said to me, 'Why don't you start something like that in Roselle?'" Cahill says.

So with Stars and Stripes in her eyes, Cahill began meeting two years ago with groups she thought would be interested.

Almost everyone she approached was eager to jump in, and they launched the program last year.

Cahill, whose brothers served in World War II, says the goal of the project is pretty simple: "increase patriotism and community spirit."

It's certainly done the latter by bringing together people of all ages to oversee the effort and volunteer to install the flags and pick them up at the end of each holiday.

The subscription deadline for this year already has passed, but folks interested in signing up for next year are asked to visit flagsforroselle.weebly.com.

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