9-11 memorial fund needs support
Carolyn Beug, Utah State University alumnus.
Mary Alice Wahlstrom, wife of a former USU employee.
Brady Howell, former USU student.
All died on Sept. 11, 2001.
These individuals are who a small group of Davis County teenagers are determined to do.
Youth of Promise (YOP), a service group composed of junior high and high school students, is nearing the final months of a five-year fundraising effort to build a $500,000 Sept. 11 memorial at USU’s Utah Botanical Center.
The only obstacle preventing the construction of this historic project is funding – $180,000 to be exact.
“It’s not just a small project that they are doing, it’s a huge project and to think that they have already put in literally years is phenomenal,” said Zellene Allred from Hyde Park, whose son Michael died in combat Sept. 6, 2004.
In order to complete the memorial for the five-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks Sept. 11, 2001, YOP needs to raise the remaining money by March, said Margaret Wahlstrom, whose mother-in-law, Mary Alice and sister-in-law, Beug, died in the first airplane that hit the World Trade Centers.
The group is involved in several fundraising projects. They are selling “Utah Unites in Hope” wristbands for $2 each.
They also receive a certain percentage of money for groceries when Albertson’s customers fill out a Community Partner form with their Preferred Savings cards.
In addition, a book containing the bibliography of Utah residents who have died in the war on terror will be sold at the Botanical Center’s Utah House.
“Before we do construction, we have to have the money,” said YOP President Mari Lindstrom.
Because the memorial will be built on land donated by USU, Lindstrom hopes to involve the university’s students to raise money.
Daniel Allred, a USU freshman whose brother Michael died in the war, has been working with members of ASUSU to sell wristbands at university-sponsored events.
“It’s going to such a great cause. These [students] might not agree with why the war started, but these are men and women who are willing to give the ultimate sacrifice for people they don’t even know,” Allred said. “It’s a way for the community to come back and say ‘thank you.'”
Originally, the memorial was meant to honor the three individuals from Utah that died during the attacks, but as the memorial evolved, the war in Iraq began and the youth group wanted to pay tribute to those serving from Utah and the heroes from Sept. 11, Wahlstrom said.
“It’s a very interesting concept and idea and it’s very fitting that the memorial will be expanded to recognize the entire Sept. 11 event,” said David Anderson, associate director of the Botanical Center.
With help from AJC Architects, the memorial is designed to portray the message of the war through a three-dimensional physical manifestation of emotions.
A pathway to the memorial will lead visitors under a large stone balancing over piles of rubble on the ground representing the vulnerability felt on the day of the attacks.
Once inside the memorial plaza, there will be a reflecting pool symbolizing the unity of the United States after the attacks and 3,000 fiber-optic lights to show how many lives were lost, Brough said.
“It’s a very humbling experience to know that someone you know has been added to that lost list, but there is a healing as you come to these different memorials that these young men have not been forgotten,” Zellene said.
A row of totems will be constructed by community groups to express their feelings through art and words.
“After they get it built, it will never be finished – it will be a living and growing monument that will show other events that are going on [in the United States],” Brough said.
The memorial has already been nominated for the national American Freedom Award, Lindstrom said.
“It’s a really beautiful project and I think people will come from all over the nation to see it,” she said. “I hope people will want to be united as a nation.”
Through various fundraising efforts, YOP has already received other donations from organizations including Kaysville City, Clearfield Job Corp, Hill Air Force Base, Layton City, Northern Electric and Spears Plumbing.
For more information about the memorial, or to donate, visit www.utahbotanicalcenter.org or send donations to Utah Unites in Hope at 715 E. 200 North, Kaysville, UT 84037.
-mmackay@cc.usu.edu