Submitted by ADeFrancesco on

Constitution Week is Upon Us!

Louise Bell Devanny, National Chair, Constitution Week Committee

I have been thrilled to hear from so many chapters and members this month about your plans to celebrate Constitution Week. With the last days of summer upon us and the start of another school year, there is no time like the present to get involved. Contact your local schools, adopt a class, get creative, contact your local politicians for proclamations, encourage your local churches to ring bells, set up displays, contact the press. However you choose to celebrate, no matter what your budget allows, you can’t go wrong. 

For the past 59 years, the DAR has celebrated Constitution Week to commemorate the ratification of the United States Constitution. The purpose of the commemoration is to educate the public, both young and old, of the importance of the Constitution to the nation’s history and to its future generations. The goal of the celebration is to raise student awareness of the Constitution in the life of our country.

The National Society sponsors a Constitution Week poster contest that is open to anyone in the DAR, school children and the general public to help raise awareness of Constitution Week. The contest is advertised by DAR members who reach out to school age children and adults in their communities to encourage participation and submission of posters to the state chapters for evaluation. This year all entries must be received by the state constitution week chair by January 15, 2015. The top two entries from each state will be sent to the division chair by February 15, 2015 and the top two winning entries from each division will be sent to the national chair by March 15, 2015. The winning poster will then be printed in the spring and offered for sale in the DAR Store by next summer.

I have received numerous questions about Constitution Week kits. Depending on your Chapter’s budget the DAR store has inexpensive items available for purchase, such as last year’s winning poster, bookmarks, pencils, and Constitution booklets, which are available for chapters to provide to schools and students to generate interest.  The kits can be as simple as putting crayons from the dollar store and photocopies of Constitution drawings to color along with a piece of candy and placed in a paper bag. More elaborate kits can include the poster and copies of the Constitution. We hope each chapter will consider adopting a class and hand out these kits and make it a part of their efforts to celebrate Constitution Week.

It is no accident that the name of one of our National Headquarters buildings is named Constitution Hall. The Constitution and all it stands for is the foundation of the DAR. Thank you for all of your efforts to foster awareness of the Constitution.