The Constantia Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution supplied Suffolk Public Schools and Suffolk Libraries with everything they needed to bring attention to Constitution Week last week.

“It emphasizes citizens’ responsibility for protecting and defending the Constitution,” said DAR member Faye Sobel. “It’s the basis of the heritage of America.”

Sobel and the rest of the DAR push for the schools to celebrate at least one day or the whole week.

“We supply the schools with fliers, brochures, and posters. The main thing is to make people aware and maybe they will think about what the Constitution is and what is in it,” Sobel said.

Constitution Week has been a longstanding tradition since 1956 after a resolution was signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The Daughters of the American Revolution petitioned the president to celebrate the Constitution.

Constitution Week is Sept. 17-23 every year, and Constitution Day is Sept. 17.

Supporting the Constitution is a core tenet of the DAR, and it is important to Sobel that everyone takes even just a second to learn more about the living document the country is based on.

“To me, it is important because everyone says, ‘I know my constitutional rights,’ and most people actually don’t,” Sobel said. “We are trying to make people aware of what is in our Constitution and what it stands for.”

She makes the extra effort to tell her own grandchildren the three most important words in the Constitution are “we the people.”

“I just want to make people understand the importance the Constitution plays in our country, because it’s a living document,” Sobel said. “It has governed our country since the beginning. It has lasted longer than any other program of government in the world.”

The Constitution is important to Sobel, and she wishes people would take the time to educate themselves about what freedoms the Constitution gives Americans, even if they don’t like it.

“We may not like what people do, but it is their right to do it. That’s the good thing about the Constitution is it gives us the right to freedoms that we cherish,” Sobel said.