With plans to lay wreaths at more than 6,000 graves at Suffolk’s Albert G. Horton Jr. Memorial Veterans Cemetery, a local nonprofit seeks volunteers to help with next month’s annual ceremony honoring the fallen.

Gaby Morrison, public affairs officer for the Horton Wreath Society, said more volunteers helped place 5,200 wreaths last year.

A wreath is placed at each grave, and the number continues to rise every year. The cemetery director coordinates on the number of wreaths required, Morrison said.

“We are there to lay the wreath and honor the veterans and heroes — and also educate the children,” she said.

Children participating in the ceremony are usually assigned mentors to help them understand the significance of the ceremony, according to Morrison.

Mentors, for instance, “look at the name on the headstone (and ask) ‘who is that?’ ‘What war did he fight in?’” she said. “It’s the older generation educating the youth on how to respect.”

Everyone is invited to this year’s ceremony — which also honors the veterans’ cemetery’s 10th anniversary — on Dec. 13. The cemetery is located at 5310 Milners Road, and registration is not required.

A brief for wreath laying at the front of the administration building begins the program at 9:30 a.m.

The placement of the ceremonial row is scheduled for 9:35 a.m., and the wreaths arrive with an escort at 9:50 a.m.

Family members will place the first wreaths at 10 a.m., and general placement — for which volunteers are required — begins half hour later.

After the wreaths have been placed, a formal ceremony takes place at the committal shelter. Taps and bagpipes close the program.

The tractor-trailer from the wreath company arrives in Suffolk on Dec. 10, Morrison said, and volunteers are needed to unload its contents a warehouse at 206 County St. from 1 to 3 p.m.

The following day, at the same location and between the same hours, volunteers are needed to prepare the wreaths, which includes unpacking, fluffing and staging.

Though enough money has already been raised for this year, folks can start donating for next year’s ceremony by sending checks made out to The Wreath Society to Horton Wreath Society Treasurer, P.O. Box 6246, Virginia Beach, VA 23456-0246.

“Our main thing is to teach the children how to honor the veterans and the fallen heroes,” Morrison said.

More information is available at www.hortonweathsociety.webs.com.