From Molly Gibbs
The Iraq Memorial to Life (IMtL) is being born because your organization—and so many other organizations like yours—have been working hard for peace.
A powerful visual image of gravestones, on the National Mall in DC, will move Americans to end senseless death!
Thousands of memorial markers, carefully arranged will powerfully bring home the full extent of Iraqi deaths to the American public and its legislators. The grieving that has long been a daily part of Iraqi life will be memorialized in your town, and spread outward, community by community, as the display moves across the country. Reactions to both regional and national displays will bring attention to the human suffering caused by the Iraq war.
We need your help to build this memorial for the American public to see. IMtL is asking your help to identify regional coordinators who can take the lead in creating local displays. The regional memorials will be built for the March 19–20 anniversary of the US attack on Baghdad. Markers will then be shipped from the regional events to Washington D.C. for a collective display on the National Mall between April 17 and April 29.
We need to have the Regional Coordinators in place by January 10, so I will be contacting you in the next few days to ask for your help. Many of you have already helped create the website for this event and have helped us work through details, and I thank you for your help. Many thanks as well to our advisors and our national sponsor, the Fellowship of Reconciliation.
Key supporters include Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, Veterans for Peace, and American Friends Service Committee (AFSC).
Below is a sample list of tasks in outline form, with a regional project schedule included for those displays assembled prior to the April event in D.C. Please visit our website http://www.iraqmemorialtolife.org [1] for more details and contact me at 360-412-1519 if you would like to volunteer to be a regional coordinator.
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January – create a newsletter; do local outreach; write media articles and blogs; host radio programs to be available online; form logistics teams; secure local sites.
February – make markers in groups; promote regional and national events; (Consultation is available regarding size of memorial you anticipate building.)
March – prepare for March 19–20 event regionally; set up regional display.
April – mail markers and stakes to our D.C. address, to be received no later than April 12.