Volunteers in Carrollton and Farmers Branch are spreading honor and patriotism one flag at a time.

The Carrollton-Farmers Branch Rotary Club, along with Boy Scouts Pack 715, Troop 876, and Explore Post 125 (Carrollton Police Post) are in their fourth year of their Flags Over Carrollton & Farmers Branch program.

The program is a service project from the Rotary Club in which residents in both cities can lease an American flag and display it in front of their homes on five different American holidays – Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, Labor Day/Patriot Day and Veterans Day. 

Bill Bexley, chairman of the Rotary Club’s flag program committee, said the program started on Veterans Day in 2018. Bexley said the group looked at other cities’ programs to determine the best way to approach it.

“There are 60 Rotary Clubs in our district, and 20 of those have a flag program, including Plano and McKinney,” Bexley said. “We looked at it for a number of years before we decided to go do it.”

Anyone interested in the program can pay a $45 fee to lease a flag for the year.

Money raised from the leases goes to the Rotary Club’s scholarships, Boys Scouts of America and area youth programs.

Members of the club and the Scouts will place a PVC plastic sleeve into the ground near the sidewalk or the curb and mark that area with a blue star. Soon before the holiday, a 3-foot-by-5-foot American flag mounted on a 10-foot metal pole will be placed in the sleeve.

The flags will remain in place during the holiday and members of the club will remove them soon after.

“We delivered between 60 and 70 flags for that first holiday,” Bexley said. “Now we’re expecting to have approximately 500 for the Fourth of July.”

Bexley said the program is important for the community.

“Our club has been in support of veterans for a long time,” Bexley said. “So this is a way to honor veterans and our country and have a service project for the Scouts and the community to be involved with.”

Bexley said the program continues to garner positive feedback.

“A lot of HOAs and organizations have picked up on it and supported it,” Bexley said. “We get all kinds of great comments from folks who love what we’re doing.”

The Rotary Club has a history of service to the city. It recently received the Outstanding Community Organization Award by the city of Carrollton.