The Unified Civic Monuments Project has been spreading its message and raising funds with a pop-up location at 4150 Roosevelt Road, outside the Lighthouse Attic Resale Shop, in Stevensville. The project’s Sharon Brown tells us the FUNrasier Pop-up is open Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. People stop by and learn about the project to build monuments to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in both Benton Harbor and St. Joseph.
“We’re definitely pushing equality and unity and reconciliation, and when we tell them that, then that’s when they come up with what they’re reading and they’re letting us know our young people are already on it,” Brown said. “So, these monuments are going to mean so much to them.”
Brown says she gives them a “nugget,” a memento about the Unified Civic Monuments Project so they can remember the ideas behind it. Those who stop by can also make a donation.
“They pick something out and they find something, some little nugget that they really like, and we ask them to really only pick something that they really like and we want them to take it home and then they will remember so they may share.
With the pop-up location, they hope to raise $1,000 per month for the Unified Civic Monuments Project. Currently, the project has raised more than $500,000 of an expected $850,000 needed. This Sunday, the first Unity Walk to celebrate the monuments project will be held from Benton Harbor to St. Joseph. It starts at 3 p.m. at Dwight P. Mitchell City Center Park in Benton Harbor and everyone’s invited.
