Is Your Organization Hosting "The Wall That Heals" ?

Let's talk about money first. The Wall will cost $5000. You then will need to pay a per diem to the two people that come with the Wall - which works out to a total of $600. Gunny & Debbie (the Wall people) will need to be provided with hotel/motel accommodations for 6 nights in a pet friendly place. This could run you $800 or so - but you'll most likely be able to find a place to donate the room. Okay - so those are your fixed costs.

From here it gets a bit more tricky to nail down exact costs. There is no right or wrong way to do things - you may want to have Ceremonies every day, or you may not want any at all. You may want to print up Program Booklets - maybe 3000 or maybe 10000. You may wanted a walkway, potted plants, or flags by the Wall. Maybe not. All these things equate to money (unless of course you get some things donated). There are some things you will definitely need to get - ie; Port-a-Potties if no bathroom facilities, etc. My suggestion would be to count on the total cost of the Wall visit to run between $11000 - $16000. Don't fall off your chair just yet - with sponsorship and donated goods/services you can raise enough to do it - we did it in just 4 months - and in the midst of hard economic times. To view our sponsors, click here. Our biggest sponsor was one for $1000 (PNC Bank). Quality Inn donated the room for the Gunny & Debbie, so that worked out to about $900 in savings. From there, we had approx 10 sponsors of $500. The rest came from donations ranging from $10 - $250 - which came mostly from our Legion members. If you would like to have copies of our Sponsorship Request Letters, Forms, etc...email me. ( squinn9807@aol.com )  

You'll need to make sure the location you have in mind will work. You'll need at least 260' x 60' for the Wall itself. Then you'll need at least 53' x 40' for the Truck/Traveling Museum. (refer to VVMF specifications, which can be found on their website www.vvmf.org ). Click on the photo to your right to see an ariel view of where we had the Truck/Traveling museum located. Notice 3 tents to the left of the truck. They are not mandatory - we used them to showcase some displays we made up of our local KIA. From what I understand, our visit was different from alot of other host locations as we had it on our American Legion property, whereas most others have it at a park - probably township or county owned land. Wherever you have it, you'll need to check to see what sort of permits/approvals you may need. If you have the backing of the community, which is pretty much a gimme, the issues will come down to cost (if any) of the permits and TIME. Sometimes these permits/approval can take quite a bit of time as they have to pass through various township/county departments, etc. In our case, we had to get township approval to hold the event - we already had the support of the Mayor, Police Dept and Fire Dept - I believe that helped in expediting the approval time, which was just about 3 weeks - which is quick from what Im told.

Let's talk about volunteers (for security, visitor assistance, etc). You'll need alot of them - but don't get too worried if they don't come out of the woodwork when you first start planning things - they will in the end. Alot of people don't understand why you are looking for volunteer commitments 4 or more months out - their mind set is "Whats the hurry, there is plenty of time"....additionally, alot of people don't know what their work schedule will be, so it's hard for them to commit to things too far in advance. I would advice that you make volunteer sign up sheets in physical and online form ASAP though. Put it out there, you'll get some that will sign up months in advance...and by having this step already done, its one less thing to worry about down the line. Of course you'll need a VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR for this so they can keep database of what shifts, etc are covered.  I'll touch base on COMMITTEES later...

I can get long winded, so I'll step back and be brief....figure on the Wall visit costing a total of about $11000 - $16000. It is possible to raise that money in 4 months or less. You will need approx 100-150 volunteers. You will need to make sure you have a suitable location.....ok, I'll move on.

Okay, so it's a risk - you will need to make sure you/your organization can cover the costs in the event you don't get any sponsorship. Depending on how far out you are looking to schedule the Wall visit, you may have time to get a feel from the community if they would be willing to help with sponsorship. However, I will refer to my comment above regarding volunteers - many have the mind set that there is plenty of time and don't understand the rush for a commitment.

 ...more to come ....