The meaning behind Memorial Day

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Sometimes we look at Memorial Day as a day off from work, a time to be with family and loved ones around a barbecue grill or just relax.

We celebrate the holiday all kinds of ways but it's important that we take a moment to reflect on the true significance of this day.

"When you think about the hundreds of thousands of service members who have given their life to protect the freedoms of our country, I think it's important to keep that memory alive and honor the sacrifice they made so that we can enjoy the freedoms we have," Rick Williams Youngstown State University's coordinator of the office of veteran affairs said.

Williams says society has lost sight of the meaning behind Memorial Day.

"They say only less than one percent of our population serves in the military so fewer and fewer families have brothers, sisters, moms or dad that served in the military," Williams said. "So it's kind of easy to forget the amount of people that have sacrificed for this country. We think it's important to call those names, honor them and you know just remember the sacrifice they've made," he said.

YSU's Veterans Resource Center honors our Valley's heroes year round, offering services to assist them in their success.

"We want to make sure that our service members are successful," Williams said. "We've got about 300 military students connected at Youngstown State University so whether it's financial, whether it's emotional or whether it's academic we do our best to connect them with the resources necessary to be successful," he said.

There's plenty of ways you can celebrate the holiday weekend across the Mahoning and Shenango Valleys.

We have a full list of Memorial Day events here.