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Flag reigns in Hubbard, elsewhere Fourth of July weekend
By LINDA M. LINONIS
HUBBARD
Rich Suhovecky takes pride in being a flag- waving American.
So much so that he coordinates the placement of some 3,000 small U.S. flags in front of homes throughout the city in the days leading up to July Fourth.
This is the fourth year for the project in Hubbard.
Suhovecky recruits groups such as church youth organizations and cheerleaders to take to city streets to put a flag in each front yard. This year, Impulse youth group of Covenant Life Fellowship, led by youth pastor Dennis Cohol, is assisting.
Suhovecky embraced the flag project begun by Karen Ament. Both Suhovecky and Ament are real-estate agents with Burgan Real Estate. “Karen started it in her neighborhood,” said John Burgan of the company. “She would get up at 3 a.m. on the Fourth and put American flags on lawns.”
Ament, who said it started out as a marketing idea in 1994, noted she places about 200 flags in her neighborhood of Angeline Estates in Boardman. “We had such a good response, and the flags look so cool,” she said. “Rich does an awesome job.”
Overall, 7,000 made-in-America flags will be placed at various sites in the Mahoning Valley to celebrate Independence Day. Other Burgan agents participate in the flag project. Burgan said flags will be placed in Canfield and along Market Street in Youngstown and Boardman. He said though other employees participate in the flag project, Suhovecky “took it to another level.”
“I think it’s a way to give back to the community,” Suhovecky said, adding that the Hubbard community has been supportive of the Burgan business. The company buys the flags and also makes a donation to the community groups that help in the distribution.
Suhovecky shares his love of the United States and his hometown of Hubbard through this community project. Distributing the flags is his way of celebrating America’s birthday on the Fourth of July. Though many think of the holiday as a day for cookouts, parades and fireworks, Suhovecky said those are ways to celebrate, but Americans should remember it’s the day the Declaration of Independence was declared in 1776.
Suhovecky, a lifelong city resident and graduate of Hubbard High School, said, “The Lord restored my health, and just as he blessed me, I want to share the blessing.” His way of doing that is sharing his love of America through the flags. The first year he undertook the project, a friend and “second mother,” Verda Haggerty, helped put cards on each flag. The cards read “God bless America and Hubbard.”
Three years ago, he had open-heart surgery and has since recovered. He credited Burgan with helping him to get through the surgery and recovery. “He came regularly to see me in Cleveland and helped when I got home,” Suhovecky recalled. How his employer treated him during his illness is an example of the caring spirit of Americans, he said.
“It’s an honor to work for him,” Suhovecky said. Before working in real estate, Suhovecky was a buyer for Strouss/Carlisle’s.
Suhovecky said he gets calls from residents who look forward to the flags and wonder when they will be placed. “The response has been so positive,” he said.