Days before Memorial Day, the Proctor Rails junior football 4th and 5th grade players visited Forest Hill Cemetery to plant the United States flag all around fallen soldiers graves.

“This is a way for us to work on our football virtue of stewardship and for these young boys to kind of look outward and to realize the sacrifices that so many have made in honor of their freedom,” shared Phil LaFlamme, a Proctor Youth Football Coach.

The Proctor football program focuses on five key variables; Integrity, grit, perseverance, stewardship, and accountability. This year, the emphasis is on stewardship, and it’s safe to say these players are taking care of others.

Partnered with the Wounded Warriors Foundation of Minnesota, players and parents lined up with their flags and planted them all around the cemetery.

There was an immediate impact with the players and those around the flag planting.

“Flags going in on the graves represents the freedom, the sacrifice, and then the key thing is remembering,” said Emma Degenstein, the Superintendent of Forest Hills Cemetery. “Remembering what these soldiers did for our country, and to watch all the little kids out here doing it with their parents is extremely heart-touching, it’s extremely honorable, and it just makes me beam with pride. I’m blessed that they chose our cemetery, and I’m blessed that they came here to volunteer their time.”

Proctor youth football player Will Baker shared that it’s something he’ll remember for a long time, saying, “Probably that we did a service to the community and that we got to be able to help.”

The action of taking time out of ones day for others they may not have known is exemplary of the outstanding work that the Proctor football program has done, and why they keep investing into their future.

“It’s really starting to bring not just the football players, but the whole community and the youth in our Proctor area together,” added LaFlamme. “Starting to work together, work on these football virtues and to grow these young boys and to hopefully become good young men. One thing that we really try to focus on is developing the person before the player. So, as we work on these football virtues throughout the year, every year we have different opportunities for these young boys to volunteer and to improve themselves as individuals and become good moral characters and good moral people.”