SANDY — It started as a sea of flags in front of City Hall, a way for Colonial Flag owner Paul Swenson to help people remember those killed in 2001's terrorist attacks and at the same time feel a sense of hope and patriotism.
But now the Healing Field Foundation has become a nationwide phenomenon, a year-round string of memorials for everything from war veterans to abused children, and the group is looking for new ways to fund the Sandy site that started it all.
Last year, 43 Healing Fields were held nationwide, and even more are expected this year. The hosting organizations buy a Healing Field package from Swenson's group. They then display their field of flags and sell the flags afterward, making the project a fund-raiser in addition to an opportunity to raise awareness.
"The biggest thing here (in Utah) is because we're so saturated in the state with flags of this kind because of the Scouting program, they don't sell as well," Healing Field Foundation national director Lori Oakason said. "We don't want the organizations that sponsor this to be in the red."
So the group has been trying to get private and corporate donors to help nonprofit organizations get the funding to start their Healing Fields. Across the country, that formula has worked.
In Sandy, Colonial Flag has been a major sponsor of the city's Healing Field. But Swenson has had to focus more of his funding on the national foundation rather than on one specific field. The organization has a host of costs to help groups across the country create their own Healing Fields, which is why the Sandy Healing Field needs local businesses' help and can't rely on Colonial Flag.
The foundation wants to get more local businesses to "step up to the plate," Oakason said.
The city has formed a committee and passed a proclamation saying it wants the Healing Field to stay in Sandy — and the city will do what it takes to keep it there. The committee is trying to start a sponsorship program to get monetary and in-kind donations.
And Oakason said she expects this year's Sandy Healing Field to be huge. In addition to the approximately 3,000 flags displayed in the past to honor the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, there will be about 2,000 more for coalition soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan and a field of about 200 flags for police officers, firefighters and other first responders killed in Utah, Oakason said.
"The American flag can heal a lot of wounds," Oakason said. "It's a better America one community at a time. We can do a lot for other countries, but only if we're strong as America."
That, Oakason said, is why Healing Field requires the funds raised by its displays to stay in the communities that host the displays.
Locally, Sandy is not the only home to a Healing Field. Last year, Sugar House hosted one, and April 23-25 West Jordan will host one at the soccer complex near Jordan Landing to raise money and awareness for child-abuse prevention.
There has also been one at the City-County Building in Salt Lake City for women who have died from heart disease. And the Huntsman Cancer Institute has plans for a display July 4 at Rice-Eccles Stadium celebrating the institute's treatment of cancer patients. Cancer survivors will post their own flags when possible, Oakason said.
E-mail: dsmeath@desnews.com