The local DAR is saying, “We the people” and honoring the document that the founding fathers brought forth to form the foundation of the nation that was founded 242 years ago.

At 4 p.m. Monday, chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution across the nation are ringing bells to commemorate the start of Constitution Week, Sept. 17 through 23, and they’re encouraging others to do the same.

Monday morning, the Muskingum chapter of the DAR presented the Muskingum County Commissioners with a bell to ring at 4 p.m. in unison with other entities participating in the ringing of the bells.

“It’s a tradition by the national society to celebrate the Constitution because one of our goals in DAR is to preserve American history, to make sure that people are aware of it,” Mary Ann DeVolld, the Committee Chair for Constitution Week from the Muskingum County chapter of the DAR said.

In 1955, a bill was presented to Congress to name a portion of September Constitution Week in honor of the Constitution that was written in by the founding fathers in September 1787. Then President Dwight Eisenhower, signed the bill into law and in 1956 Constitution week was born, according to DeVolld.

“So just to make people aware that it’s ‘We the People’ and so we are responsible for making sure that it works, and they said that this Constitution should never be changed because that’s the core of the foundation of our country,” DeVolld said.

The DAR provides educational materials to teachers in the chapter’s respective areas if they wish to further teach students about the Constitution during Constitution Week.

While the local DAR chapter has grown to a 111 member group and counting, the original group consisted of only 12 sisters. The organization is a lineage group, meaning that inquiring members must prove that they are a direct descendant of a person that fought in the American Revolution or was a Patriot that aided in the efforts of the revolution. Devolld said the process of proving eligibility is not as complicated as people may think.

The national DAR society has over 187,000 members, but the society is hoping to acquire about 63,000 new members to have 250,000 Daughters of the Revolution by the time America celebrates is 250th anniversary of its founding in the year 2026.

“They said in 1976, people were interested so they assume people are going to be interested again as we start celebrating again,” DeVolld said.

Organizations and individuals alike are encouraged to ring bells in honor of the Constitution today at 4 p.m. in unison with DAR chapter and the Muskingum County Commissioners.