Ceremony goes ahead after volunteers step in to replace stolen wreaths

A wreath-laying ceremony to honour Canadian Armed Forces members was able to go forward this weekend despite thousands of the handmade decorations being stolen only a week before.

Dozens of volunteers rallied together, putting in extra hours Saturday to make new wreaths after the theft of nearly 3,000 of them from a property in Maxville, Ont., southeast of Ottawa at the end of November.

They toiled away and made enough for Sunday's ceremony at the National Military Cemetery, located inside Ottawa's Beechwood Cemetery. "It was that kick in the teeth and it was really painful, right, because it's you're stealing from a community," said Nick McCarthy, vice-president of Wreaths Across Canada, a non-profit organization that creates the handmade wreaths to remember and honour military members and their families.

McCarthy commended the extra hours of effort volunteers put in to ensure Sunday's ceremony went forward.

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