Living by the Golden Rule pushed a local area company to donate time and, quite literally, energy to installing new lights at the Bradfield Village Park Veterans Memorial in Buda.

Earlier this year, J S Electric donated its time and electrical expertise to the memorial located on Main Street.

The memorial consists of an engraved stone, pavers, as well as the U.S., Texas, Missing in Action (MIA) and the Honor and Remembrance Flags.

The memorial in Bradfield Park was dedicated to the VFW in 2015 by an area Boy Scout as his Eagle Scout project. The memorial consists of an engraved stone, pavers, as well as the U.S. and Texas flags, the Missing in Action (MIA) flag and the Honor and Remembrance Flags.

The Buda VFW Post 12161, represented by Post Commander Bob Holcomb, presented a certificate of appreciation to J S Electric during a May 15 city council meeting. 

In February, the VFW notified the Buda Parks and Recreation Department that the solar powered lights installed in 2015 were not functioning correctly due to wear and tear.

According to the United State’s Flag Code, a flag may only be displayed for 24 hours a day “if properly illuminated during the hours of darkness.” So for a short period of time, the flags were taken down until lights could be installed.

The VFW wanted to raise the flags each morning and take them down at night, but they couldn’t get enough volunteers to help.

Parks and Recreation Director Greg Olmer said his department immediately started looking at options and a budget for new lights, including fundraising options.

This came to the attention of a J S Electric project manager who was working on another project with the city. The manager then called Jimmy Schmidt, owner and founder of J S Electric.

Schmidt’s father was a veteran of World War II and he also had some uncles who were enlisted in the military.

“We’ll never be able to repay the veterans for all they do, so we’re trying to do what we can,” Schmidt said.

Once the project was started, Olmer said it only took about a month to get the lights up and running.

“This was a huge donation for them,” Olmer said.

Schmidt says he appreciated the help that Buda Parks and Recreation provided as well as Pedernales Electric Cooperative to help install the lights.

“It was pretty much a joint effort, we were responsible for installing the lights, but I want to give credit to everyone who helped,” Schmidt said.