Since 2002, the Coppell Rotary Club has provided American flags for Coppell residents and businesses to commemorate five major U.S. holidays and recognize our American heroes. The flag lease program is the main fundraiser for the Club and helps provide support for its many local and international service projects. “The Coppell Rotary Club flag lease program had another great year in 2015,” said Rotarian flag director, Mike Fox. “This year, our flag lease program grew from delivering 950 flags in early 2015 to 1,150 flags leased on Veteran’s Day, our last holiday of the year. This is the highest number of flags delivered in the program’s history and would not have been possible without the help of the many volunteer organizations in our community who assist with putting out and taking down the flags.” 

To lease an American flag, a resident or business pays an annual fee of $40 for five major holidays: Memorial Day, Flag Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day and Veterans Day.

A new storage location was made possible at Coppell High School to accommodate the increased number of American flags, a. “A special thanks to Mark Rash at CISD for ensuring the new storage area at the CHS stadium,” Fox noted. “The new area makes removal and putting away of the flags much quicker and easier for the volunteers who come to the high school, gather the necessary number of flags needed for their particular flag route, load the flags in their vehicles and disperse them at the appropriate areas. Then that evening the volunteers collect the flags and return them to the storage area at the stadium.”

“We owe a special thanks to flag route leaders for their involvement,” said Rotary Club president Terry Laughlin. Route leaders coordinate volunteers for their respective areas, arrange flag pick up and put out times for the five holidays. In return, the volunteer organizations receive $3 for each flag that is placed at a residence or business and $3 for each flag that is collected from those residences or businesses. “This is a great way for local service organizations like the Boy Scouts, the Coppell Family YMCA, the CHS Color Guard and many others to raise money for their respective philanthropies,” noted Laughlin.

For more information on the Coppell Rotary Club flag lease program or to lease a flag for 2016, visit www.coppellrotary.org.