Insurer's Gift Lifts Project to Within $21 Million of Its Goal
By Michael E. Ruane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 17, 2007
The Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Project has received a donation of $1 million from Prudential Financial Inc., bringing the fundraising total to $79 million, project and company officials announced.
The memorial's fundraising goal is $100 million, the amount needed to begin construction on the Mall.
"It takes us another step closer to making this dream a reality for this country and, indeed, the world," said Harry E. Johnson Sr., president of the memorial's foundation.
The Prudential donation is one of 32 gifts of $1 million or more, project spokeswoman Rica Orszag said. General Motors Corp. has pledged $10 million, the Tommy Hilfiger Corporate Foundation $5 million and the NBA and WNBA $3 million.
In addition, the project announced this week that it will host a fundraising concert at Radio City Music Hall in New York on Sept. 18. Supporters include Muhammad Ali, Jamie Foxx, Whoopi Goldberg, Cuba Gooding Jr., Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson. The "Dream Concert" performers will be named later, Orszag said.
The crescent-shaped memorial is planned for a four-acre site at the Tidal Basin, between the Franklin D. Roosevelt and Thomas Jefferson memorials. It will feature motifs of stone, water and trees, along with a 2 1/2 - story granite sculpture, "Stone of Hope," depicting the famed civil rights leader, who was slain in 1968.
Sculptor Lei Yixin of China was selected in March for the project, which will include some of King's words.
A ceremonial groundbreaking took place Nov. 13. Orszag said a construction contract will be announced within the next few weeks, and work is expected to begin in the fall.
"The Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial . . . will remind us of our obligations to one another and our duty as citizens of the United States to defend our country's founding ideals of freedom and democracy for all," said Art Ryan, chairman and chief executive of Prudential Financial.
Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), who co-authored the legislation authorizing the memorial, issued a statement thanking Ryan and Prudential for "the generous contribution to help bring the MLK Jr. Memorial Foundation closer to the building of a moving memorial to a great American."
The memorial is scheduled for completion next year. Harry Johnson said the project is cultivating other donors and hopes to boost the fundraising total to $80 million or $85 million soon.
"We feel very confident that we are still on track to build this memorial," he said. "Things are going great."
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