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The Upperman Veteran’s Monument project will move forward in the coming months.
Manager of the Upperman Campus Community Council Eric Brown said the lack of funding previously delayed the project.
“We haven’t completely raised everything. There were a couple adjustments raised to our previous goal around some electrical needs and some other site prep that wasn’t going to be previously in scope,” Brown said. “So we did have to bump it a little bit. But we are approaching goal, we are very close.”
The Upperman Veteran’s Monument construction should be completed next year. (Photo: Upperman Campus Community Council Facebook)
Brown said the council now has a fundraising goal of $11,500.
“And honestly that number is cheap compared to you know, what has been promised in labor support, some in material support, and other things like that,” Brown said. “That is an awfully cheap price for what we are going to end up accomplishing when this is all said and done.”
The council has procured all construction materials for the monument. Brown said the council hopes to set a dedication ceremony date at their spring meeting.
“This is not the ideal time to start a construction project, because you have wet-winter situation or potentially freezing weather. So we are going to have to play according to weather opportunities and things like that,” Brown said. “Our full expectation is most of that is going to be in play by the time of our spring meeting.”
Along with fundraising, Brown said the council will still collect names to engrave onto the monument.
“We have gone forward with our first set of names. And that by no means, means that we will not collect more. We are always interested in finding out about other names that haven’t submitted to us in any other way,” Brown said. “As you can imagine it is a pretty daunting project. And we will have the opportunity to add some more names on the monument later on.”
The council has a list of 550 names so far. The Veteran’s Monument is designed for the addition of names after construction is completed. Brown said area lighting will assure clear visibility of the monument day and night.
