Millions of patriotic American citizens across the nation are preparing to place wreaths at veterans’ gravesites for Christmas.

Every year since 2008, Congress proclaims a Saturday in December as National Wreaths Across America Day. This year, it will be celebrated on Saturday, December 16.

According to Wreaths Across America (WAA), the nonprofit organization behind the annual wreath-laying effort, over 2 million volunteers are expected to place wreaths on veterans’ headstones at over 3,700 participating locations in all 50 states.

In 2022, over 2 million volunteers — a third of whom were children — placed 2.7 million wreaths at headstones nationwide. At Arlington National Cemetery alone, 68 tractor trailers delivered over 275,000 veterans’ wreaths that were placed by almost 28,000 volunteers.

One of those volunteers was U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

WAA was founded in 2007 to continue the annual wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery begun by businessman Morrill Worcester, who donated the first 5,000 wreaths in 1992. The millionth wreath was placed at Arlington Cemetery in 2012.

In 2014, for the first time, every headstone at Arlington Cemetery received a wreath. The organization’s footprint has continued to expand, leading to the annual two-million-strong volunteer effort it is today.

Young men are more likely to form gambling addictions after engaging in online sports betting, experts warn, raising red flags about the lucrative gambling craze sweeping the country.

Sports betting was federally banned until 2018 but is now legal in-person and online in the District of Columbia and 29 states, and legal in-person in seven more.

Americans have already gambled a record-breaking $79 billion on games this year, and are on-pace to spend more than $100 billion in 2023, and USA Today estimates each state’s sports betting market is worth about $2.6 billion — more than doubling since 2019.

Even ESPN, the ubiquitous sports network, is getting in on the action. They launched their own sports gambling company, or sportsbook, called ESPN BET two weeks ago.

As new states legalize sports betting for a cut of the industry’s massive profits, troubling signs of gambling addictions have emerged.

Calls to gambling addiction hotlines increased by as much as 425% in some states after legalizing sports betting, Newsweek reports.

Some experts additionally claim state hotlines are fielding more calls from or about children. Others claim more people in their teens and twenties are attending Gamblers Anonymous meetings, according to Vice. Experts like Keith Whyte, the executive director for the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG), believe online sports betting has increased people’s risk for forming gambling addictions.

Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins suffered a season-ending injury while playing the Green Bay Packers on October 29. Yet the 35-year-old is directing his attention higher — to Christ and His plans for him.

Cousins was injured in the fourth quarter of the game and was subsequently carted off to the locker room. The Vikings went on to beat the Packers 24-10. The team is 6-6 this season.

Cousins had surgery on November 1 to repair his torn Achille. “Surgery was a success!” he posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, following the operation. “Grateful for your prayers, Dr. Coetzee’s abilities, and our medical team. Would appreciate continued prayers! One day at a time …”

Cousins doesn’t know when he’ll be cleared to return, though recovery from a torn Achilles tendon typically takes at least several months.

Addressing the injury in a November 17 press conference, Cousins, a devout Christian and the son of an evangelical pastor, shared that he is turning to his faith and his family to get him through the injury. “You don’t quite know how many people are in your corner or how many people are praying for you and cheering you on until something like this happens,” he said, adding,

“I’m excited to kind of write the next chapter and see what God wants to do with it, whatever it may be. And just kind of be reminded, again, that you know, I’ve kind of got my career. It’s not my career.”