I love this story. Its starts in Maine back in 1962 when 12-year-old Morrill Worcester visited Arlington National Cemetery. What struck him the was the “enormity of the cemetery” and that “everyone buried there had a personal story and aspirations and plans for the future, like we all do.” Ten years later he started a wreath company called
Worcester Wreath Company that grew and grew and grew supplying wreaths for L.L. Bean’s catalog among other outlets. In 1992 when Morrill discovered he had several thousand left over wreaths he got the idea to donate them to Arlington and much to his surprise was granted permission by the US government to do so. So he and his son and several co-workers drove to Virginia and took six hours in the rain to lay 5,000 wreaths on the graves stones. Feeling good about himself, Morrill decided to make this an annual tradition and did so pretty much in obscurity until last year when a photo of his wreaths sprinkled with snow became a viral sensation. The photo was taken by an Air Force news photographer and posted to an Air Force website to which someone added a moving poem. Suddenly, everyone related to the military had seen the photo and military cemeteries all over the country wanted wreaths of their own. Morrill was beginning to believe the military dictum that “no good deed goes unpunished” when he figured out a way to help out the other cemeteries, even involving UPS who agreed to ship them for free. Ultimately, Morrill’s effort landed his company on the
cover of Friday’s USA Today. The reason I love this story is that Morrill did good simply because he thought it was the right thing to do. This was not a deliberate act of Marketing for Good, but it certainly ended up being good marketing — I know where I’ll be getting my
wreath next year. How about you?