Sale of 'Hometown Hero' banners ending in Vandergrift

This year will be the final year Vandergrift residents can purchase Hometown Hero banners for display in the town.

Ashleigh Hannigan, assistant treasurer of the Vandergrift No. 1 Fire Department, facilitates the program and said 2020 will be the last year she will sell banners.

Hometown Hero banners are designed to honor veterans and first responders. The banners are hung around town and include the name and photo of the honoree as testament to their service. Hannigan has sold the banners on a volunteer basis for about five years. It began as a fundraiser for the fire department, but Hannigan soon realized that it was not profitable. That was OK, though, Hannigan said.

“We saw what it meant to people,” she said.

The banners became more and more popular every year, she said. Last year, she sold more than 100 banners to Vandergrift residents.

But the stress of heading up the program has gotten to be too much, Hannigan said. Ordering the banners, coordinating any necessary corrections, filling out all the necessary paperwork and making sure the banners are displayed properly was a lot of work for the volunteers, she said.

“People didn’t realize we were just volunteers doing this,” Hannigan said.

Councilman John Uskuraitis, who has served in the fire company for 20 years, said only three or four volunteers were handling the banners during the last five years. It was tireless labor, he said. He said he got sun poisoning last year after spending hours in the sun hanging more than 200 banners around town.

“It’s a lot of work for a fundraiser that really wasn’t a fundraiser,” he said.

The fire department profited only about $5 per banner, Uskuraitis said.

The banners were also the subject of disagreement on the Vandergrift Council in 2018. That year, Hannigan decided to purchase one herself for late Vandergrift police Officer Robert Kirkland, as a surprise to Kirkland’s wife. The council ruled that the banner be taken down because Kirkland had never served in the military. It then reversed its decision and voted to expand the program to include first responders.

Hannigan said the existing banners will still be hung on the towns’ telephone poles every year. Still, it is disappointing to see the program come to a close.

“It’s the people. It’s the story,” Hannigan said. “These people have lost their husbands, their brothers, their sisters. And it’s keeping their memory alive.”

Uskuraitis is hopeful that another community organization will volunteer to help the fire department or take over the program altogether, so that it can potentially be revived.

“Hopefully, if we can find more community involvement, maybe from the VFW or Legion, the program can continue to hang new ones,” he said.

Vandergrift residents who would like to purchase a banner should contact Hannigan before Feb. 15. Applications are also available at the borough office.