SIOUX FALLS, SD (KELO) — A South Dakota non-profit that builds coffins for military veterans and their spouses has found a spacious solution to its growing pains.
Demand for hand-crafted coffins and urns through the Veterans Honored Interment keeps rising, especially since the state veterans cemetery opened in Sioux Falls.
A vacant two-story office is being converted into the new Sioux Falls headquarters of Veterans Honored Interment.
“Oh, it’s wonderful! I mean, we have twice the space. We have room to grow,” Veterans Honored Interment Board of Directors member Roger Van Noort said.
This is already the third location for the non-profit since it started in Sioux Falls nearly two decades ago.
“It follows a flow, better than what we ever had before. So each room can be divided up and we can do the work in those rooms,” Van Noort said.
In this room, volunteers, including Navy veteran Donald Norton, assemble the oak plywood coffins. Norton has been doing this since 2008.
“Being a corpsman, I was used to giving to the navy and giving to people, so I just started doing it,” Norton said.
The task is much easier than before, because now they use pre-cut wood.
“I remember when we used to saw wood outside in the snow, when we first started. So it was nice, and so it makes it a lot more convenient because we don’t have as much dust flying in here,” Norton said.
The entire second floor of the building is dedicated to assembling urns, which are becoming as much as in demand as coffins.
“Last year, I did 108 urns. This year, I’ve already built 98. So, I think I’ll go past what I did last year,” Vietnam veteran Gary Campbell said.
This is the quiet room, where military veterans can pick out their coffins or urns. Air Force veteran Darla Larsen painted the soothing nature mural.
“Nature is that calming kind of thing that helps us get through hard times. So I’m going to be bringing some of that nature in here,” Larsen said.
Providing coffins and urns to veterans is a cause that’s personal to Larsen.
“I buried my late husband in one of these. And I buried my dad in one of these. There’s something about that final tribute to a veteran that served their country, it was very meaningful, very meaningful,” Larsen said.
Demand for the coffins and urns that are assembled here has spiked since the state veterans cemetery in Sioux Falls opened just over three years ago.
“With the 65-thousand veterans that we just have in South Dakota, I always tell everyone we’re too busy to die ourselves because we’ve got so much work to do,” Van Noort said.
The volunteers have some 500 orders yet to fill. A labor of love, from inside their new headquarters, to show their fellow veterans that they’re eternally grateful for their service.
Veterans Honored Interment’s new workshop is located on South Carolyn Avenue, behind Menard’s.
Veterans are asked to make a donation in return for the coffins or urns. But no veteran will be turned away if they cannot afford to do so.
