Piedmont, in partnership with Chapel Hill Funeral Home and Memorial Gardens, is proud to host the Dignity Memorial Vietnam Wall.
The community of Piedmont will have the honor of hosting the Dignity Memorial Vietnam Wall the weekend of July 4th, 2009. This “wall” is a traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington , D.C. , and is dedicated to all Americans who served in Vietnam and honors all veterans of the United States military forces. There will be no venders allowed at the venue at any time.
The memorial will be viewable from Thursday morning, July 2nd to Sunday evening, July 5th, 24 hours per day.
» Hospitality Committee will be responsible for assisting visitors (registering, finding names, rubbings, general help at wall), scheduling 24-hour monitoring of wall from arrival to departure, coordinating a name reading program, liaison to the City of Piedmont for city beautification and clean up, special items for veterans (ribbons), printing programs, train volunteers on assisting with distressful situations (what to do/what not to do), arranging food for volunteers, arranging bottled water for visitors, and assist the Safety Committee with the scheduling of parking attendants.
The Hospitality Committee will need the most volunteer participation (150+). Please contact Brooke Kuns at Piedmont City Hall @ 373-2621 or by email to get involved.
» Ground Site Committee will responsible for installing and dismantling wall, preparing site & decoration, constructing the stage and podiums, arranging sound system and electrical, putting up tents, on site information signs (no smoking, cell phones, pets, etc.), arranging for “port-a-potties”, and providing for handicap and elderly transportation (need golf carts).
» Safety/Security Committee will be responsible for ensuring a clean and safe venue, develop master traffic/parking plan, setting up and staffing the first aid facility (need experienced medical volunteers), emergency contingency plans, on-site traffic control, maintenance of parking area, and signage for directing traffic.
» Programs and Ceremonies Committee will coordinate main ceremonies and special events through veterans, military, civic and school activities and groups, staging wall arrival with a motorcycle escort, arranging guest speakers, arranging for the playing of “Taps”, 21-gun salute, raising and lowering of colors, honor guards, wreath presentations, print programs and many other actual event functions.
» Publicity Committee is primarily responsible for attracting visitors to the venue and generating positive media coverage about the event, through press releases, free ad space, fliers, posters, EMAILS, interviews, etc., and handling all public inquiries. Also maintain an archive folder of pictures, media, and event stories. John Bickerstaff is the event’s Public Liaison and should be considered the point person with all media contact.
» Accounting Committee will execute a plan to solicit contributions (need ~$20K) and will handle and track all monetary and in-kind donations received, expenses, tax deductible receipts, thank you notes, and handle T-shirts sales leading up to event.
The vision of hosting the Dignity Memorial Vietnam Wall in our community is to treat the event with the utmost reverence and honor while uniting our community with our best foot forward. This will be something that we will never forget. Invite everyone you know and spread the exciting news!
We will have a commemorative SAFE and PLAQUE buried on city grounds with all mementos left at wall.