Chapter Activities and Projects

The DAR has many projects and activities for its members to support. Here are just a few of the current activities of our chapter members:

Service to Veterans: We buy and wrap Christmas gifts for the veterans at LaSalle Veterans Home. Coupons are clipped and sent to an overseas base in Germany to be used by military families. Stamps are collected and sent to stamp-collecting veterans. We have honored Veterans Day by providing 400 table trays for area Nursing Homes. Comfort items and gift cards are sent to Danville veterans.

The Constitution: We challenge ourselves to learn more about the Constitution and just what it means to all. We put up displays to promote Constitution week in area schools, the Ford County courthouse, and local libraries.

Genealogical Records: We help others research their family histories by sponsoring workshops.

Education: For many years, the Governor Thomas Ford Chapter, NSDAR, has recognized outstanding graduating seniors attending Ford County schools with the DAR Good Citizens awards for their dependability, leadership, service, and patriotism, presenting students with local, state, and national scholarship award opportunities through an essay competition. We honor the DAR and SAR Good Citizens from GCMS and PBL with a program in the spring. Our chapter sponsors the Junior American Citizens and American History contests for students at Tri-Point, PBL, and GCMS school districts. We recognize their talents at an awards program in Spring. Donations of books are given to the local schools and/or libraries.

Patriotism: In 1982, we honored the 250th Anniversary of George Washington's birth by planting a Snowdrift Flowering Crab Apple Tree on the courthouse lawn. We donated a flag, pole and stand to the Moyer Library for their Program room. In 2020, we purchased a personalized brick for the Paxton Grand Old Flag Project. We planted a cutting from a tree from George Washington’s Mt. Vernon estate at Majestic Park in Paxton, IL. We have helped to beautify the historic Sheriff's residence in Paxton, IL, donating to their grounds several Hosta plants. In support of combating the COVID-19 pandemic, members have sewn and donated homemade cloth masks.