The Santa Clarita Valley has always been dedicated to our veterans, and with nearly 10,000 living in the valley, that’s a lot to be proud of. We are very pleased to announce a new way to honor our local, currently serving military members.

The new Hometown Heroes Military Banner program was adopted by the City Council earlier this year.  The program offers local friends and family of actively-serving military members, an opportunity to have one streetlight pole banner hung in one of our major thoroughfares in each community of our City (Canyon Country, Newhall, Saugus and Valencia), featuring their photo, name, rank and branch.

To qualify, honorees must meet the following active duty requirements:

* Active duty military personnel from the U.S. Armed Forces; AND current Santa Clarita resident;

* or immediate family member of current Santa Clarita resident, such as husband, wife, son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter

* The military honoree must have lived in Santa Clarita Valley at some point. The Valley is defined to include the City as well as Castaic, Val Verde, Stevenson Ranch and Agua Dulce.

The City of Santa Clarita is working with a banner vendor, AAA Flag and Banner, who will be managing the program.  They will be printing the banners, putting them up and taking them down.  The banners will go up three times per year for approximately three weeks around Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Veterans Day.  Upon the conclusion of the contract agreement, and/or when the military member is no longer active, the banner will be given to the family or sponsor.

While the cost of the banners is to be borne by friends and family, we have collected donations that will allow for a $100 per banner discount for the first 200 orders.  Families needing additional financial assistance should contact me directly for assistance at: bkellar@santa-clarita.com.

We also have nine gold star military members (those who lost their lives in the service of our country post 9/11) whose banners will be placed on the Fallen Warrior Memorial Bridge and will be paid for by the City.

If you have an active duty military member that you would like to order a banner for, please visit the City’s website at: www.Santa-Clarita.com  and click on the link on our home page that will take you to the order form for the Hometown Heroes Military Banner Program.

We are thrilled that as a City, we will be visibly recognizing our currently-serving military members, allowing everyone to appreciate their service to our country.  If you are interested in helping sponsor a Santa Clarita Valley military banner through our Hometown Heroes Military Banner program, kindly email me at: bkellar@santa-clarita.com.

Bob Kellar is mayor of the city of Santa Clarita.