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FeedMLK Jr. Memorial Renovation Ribbon Cutting at Delaney Park
ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Wednesday June 20, Noon, 2012 – The Martin Luther King Jr. Living Memorial Committee has achieved their goal of renovating the memorial at Delaney Park Strip (L Street between 9th and 10th Ave.). The public is invited to celebrate this community milestone with Senator Bettye Davis and Alaska State Legislators, City Officials, The Martin Luther King Foundation, and other important funders including the Rasmuson Foundation and the Anchorage Park Foundation.
Former Mayor Rick Mystrom, a Living Memorial Committee Member, says “all are welcome to celebrate this important park renovation. This memorial is a place that can bring Anchorage together, as important public spaces can do. Thank you to our private and public funders who made this possible”
The renovation project includes new interpretive signs, an improved walkway, a donor wall, and a granite image of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that can be seen from the road by L street drivers year round. In the 1990s, volunteers raised more than $250,000 in community contributions to build the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial honoring Dr. King's contributions to our country. In the ten years since the Memorial's installation, it showed signs of age.
The Living Memorial Committee, comprising Jim Barnett, Rick Mystrom, Connie Jones, Celeste Graham-Hodge, Elvi Gray-Jackson, Eleanor Andrews, Jim Posey, Darrel Hess, Marilyn Stewart-Richardson, Joy Green-Armstrong and Rev. Alonzo Patterson, utilized legislative funding and private funds to restore the monument to reflect Anchorage's commitment to honoring Dr. King's memory.
Rev. Patterson says “The new visibility for this memorial will raise the profile of Dr. King’s message in Anchorage. Drivers will think thoughts of peace and justice. Memorial visitors will have time to reflect on the brotherhood of man.” Eleanor Andrews, Chair of the Anchorage Park Foundation reflects, “The Anchorage Park Foundation is honored to serve as an organization that can bring funders to such a meaningful project.”
