“Just two days remain to keep the flame burning, as it were, atop the Liberty Memorial. But Denise Rendina isn’t too worried. Surely in this most patriotic week, a few more benefactors will write checks to meet the July Fourth deadline.
“We’re feeling confident,” said Rendina, public relations director of the National World War I Museum, which sprawls beneath the 217-foot tower in Kansas City’s Penn Valley Park…” Kansas City dot Com
“Like Carlson, Pioneer’s Tom Holcom was upset to learn that the eternal flame had gone out for lack of funds. The same day the article ran Holcom put his subordinates to work. By 7 that night, they had created the savetheflame.org campaign and made a $5,000 donation to keep the flame going through Independence Day…”
“Liberty Memorial was conceived in 1919 as a way to honor the memory and sacrifices of all those who served their country and defended liberty during World War I.
Since its completion in 1921, the memorial has been a Kansas City and national monument, looking over the downtown skyline. The National World War I Museum, which opened in 2006, was built beneath the existing Liberty Memorial. It is designated by Congress as the nation's official WWI Museum, and is the first and only American museum solely dedicated to preserving the objects, history and personal experiences of a war whose impact still echoes in our world today.
Unfortunately, recent funding issues have forced the flame sitting atop the 217-foot tower to be extinguished except on special holidays. The annual cost to keep the flame burning is estimated to be $45,000 by officials at the National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial…” Save the Flame dot Org
If you have a few dollars to help save the flame please do so.
This campaign was successful and they've raised over 60k - more than enough to keep the steam generator pumping out the simulated flame for over a year. Some large contributions but lots of small ones also - got the job done in just a few days.
The story of how quickly they raised the initial construction money is remarkable - 2.5 million dollars in 10 days in the 1920s. More so in fact than raising 65K this week and in that era it was a multitude of nickles and dimes and dollars that built the Memorial. A nice monument - one of Kansas City's centerpieces along with the nearby Union Station.
Poll shows 80% favor keeping the flame lit and 16% said - no, not work 45K per year.
Dick in KC
Followup article on the Liberty Memorial fundraising:
http://www.kansascity.com/115/story/691571.html
Cute Fourth of July - Dress a Hot Dog item:
http://www.kansascity.com/637/story/689462.html
hit the SLIDESHOW link to see a ton of entries - pretty clever some of them.
Posted by: Dick Williams | Friday, July 04, 2008 at 14:00