Honor and Pride: Freedom Flag Works, LLC
The Lanehart Family–Preston, Parker, Kristie and Dustin–are the faces behind the beautiful hand-crafted wooden flags created by Freedom Flag Works, LLC
It’s more than a hobby for Dustin Lanehart–it’s a family mission.
Dustin, a veteran of the US Marine Corps, who served three tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan during his 2001-2005 enlistment, has adapted to life after the military, even though he had once considered it as a potential career.
“I had some pretty rocky times,” he admits. “Let’s just say I saw a lot of Purple Hearts. And when a friend from Michigan got killed on his ninth tour, I realized it was time for me to walk away. So I let it go, and I haven’t looked back.”
When he and his wife, Kristie, and their son Preston, moved back to Michigan after he left the Marines, they each got full time jobs, and they bought a house with a pole barn. And they had another son, Parker.
“I had a chop saw, and I started building these flags,” he said. “I wanted to honor the flag I had fought under around the world. I started out using pallet wood, but then I found that barn wood was easier to come by, and the grain and rustic look was more like what I wanted. So that’s what I am now using.”
Eventually, after making a few flags, including one for a friend, Kristie put an ad on Craigslist and he started getting a few orders here and there.
Kristie was also volunteering at Camp Liberty, located between Manchester and Napoleon, and Dustin decided to make a flag for the camp that provides outdoor recreational programs that aid in the reintegration of service members, veterans, and their families, with an emphasis on assisting those with post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injuries.
“After that, the Eisenhower Clinic ordered two flags, and then four more,” Kristie explained.
Each flag takes about 8-10 hours to create, a time that Dustin describes as “relaxing and peaceful.” A Facebook page for Freedom Flagworks, LLC was created and suddenly the relaxing and peaceful part got a little more overwhelming as the family received 18 orders literally overnight. Even more exciting, they heard from Channel 4 in Detroit, who wanted to do a news segment about them for Memorial Day 2016.
“This was in April and I had all these orders and I simply couldn’t do anything in time for Memorial Day,” Dustin says. “But then they moved (the segment) to July 4. I worked literally around the clock to make it happen.”
The news segment, televised on July 4, 2016 and hosted by former Channel 4 reporter Lauren Podell, has been viewed more than 63,000 times over the past two years.
“It’s really like I have two full-time jobs,” Dustin said. “But it is incredibly rewarding because I’ve sent these flags all across the country. My goal is to have flags in all 50 states.”
During
his first year in business, Dustin created and donated a memorial flag for a gold-star family in Florida. On his next anniversary, he built a flag including the Pledge of Allegiance that was donated to Camp Liberty and auctioned off at a fund-raiser. For his third year in business, he’s making another Pledge flag that will be auctioned off at a benefit for the Manchester Young Guns, a group in which his boys–and the entire family–are active. Dustin also serves as a board member for the Young Guns.
“Our customers are incredibly patient,” Kristie says. “We have about a three to four-month waiting list for flags to be created. We’ve managed to stay pretty busy.”
The beautifully hand-crafted finished product is well worth the wait. Customer responses and reviews have been overwhelmingly positive.
“I’ve met so many great people through doing this,” Dustin added. “People who have many of the same roots as me … it keeps driving me to continue.”
His hobby-turned-business has brought him local as well as national notoriety. One of his flags hangs proudly in Dr. Dana Andrews’ office here in Manchester, as well as several more in homes around the community. Last Christmas, he fulfilled an order for 27 flags–one for each member of the Dexter Fire Department. And one of the “coolest” projects he has done was for Commanding Officer Pete Shoemaker as a farewell gift from the aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush, when they returned from supporting Operation Inherent Resolve over Syria and Iraq. Shoemaker, who was born and raised in Traverse City, was revered by the VFA-37 “Ragin’ Bulls” family, and started a new chapter in his Naval career last fall. The custom designed flag includes the Michigan State Seal and the stripes are engraved with the Ragin’ Bulls’ tribute to Shoemaker. That was “a privilege” to make, Dustin says.
Although demand for the product could take the Laneharts into full time production and a much larger business, Dustin is, for now, content to keep this family owned and operated and on a much smaller scale. He continues to hand-craft his flags with woodworking tools that are passed down from his grandfather, who also served in the Marine Corps, and it’s his way of sharing his own patriotism with others.
“That’s what’s important to me,” he says. “That flag means a lot to me.”
For more information or to order from Freedom Flag Works, LLC–or to view the Channel 4 segment from July 2016–visit their Facebook Page.
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