Oct 22 2018
Thomas Nelson | WCF Courier
CEDAR FALLS — Fundraising has begun for a Gold Star Family monument at Veterans Memorial Park.
Sid Morris and Mike Butler, veterans representatives, have been working toward making the monument a reality.
“This is about the families that really paid the price,” Butler said. Gold Star families have lost a family member during a time of war.
The monument was approved by the Cedar Falls City Council Oct. 1.
The Cedar Falls Lions and Rotary Club made matching gifts toward the project.
The project isn’t a Cedar Falls project, it’s a Cedar Valley project, Butler said.
“We know we have a place to put it,” Butler said. “Now we work with the city to say where are we going to put, and start working on the design.”
Butler estimates the project could cost about $50,000 to $60,000.
He and Morris are looking for local contractors to do the work.
“We don’t bid it, we just go out and ask if they would be interested in participating,” Butler said.
Butler hopes the monument is designed and built in about a year.
“We’re at the very beginning, and when Fort Dodge did there’s it took them not quite a year,” he said.
We don’t have much raised so far, Butler said.
The money will go through the Cedar Falls Civil Foundation as a tax-free gift.
