The goal of recognizing the contributions of women veterans at Hillsborough County’s Veterans Memorial Park and Museum with a monument is within sight as a design has been selected and fundraising efforts continue.
In what has been a grassroots campaign of more than five years, the monument has gone from an idea to set the record straight about an aspect of America’s military history that has often been ignored or diminished to an allotted space in the park and an approved design to create from. It is slated to be included in the park’s planned renovations.
The selected design depicts a woman in a generic military uniform standing upon a black granite tri-base, flanked by a woman pilot and infantry soldier, with a figure of a young girl in the foreground.
For the organizers and the veterans they represent, it is more than a statue as it provides recognition for the women who served their country. They are joined in their effort by AMVETS Post 44 in Plant City, a kindred band of veterans who understand the cost of service. Post 44 hosts special fundraising events on behalf of the monument, such as a community yard sale on Saturday, August 8, from 8 a.m.-2 p.m.
Irene Rapoza, who is chair of the monument initiative said there has been a lot of progress with deciding on a design and procuring a place in the park, but there is still plenty of work to do and, with a projected cost of $100,000, funds to raise.
“We’ve come a long way from our original design of our monument,” she wrote in an email. “We are still in our fundraising mode, but with AMVETS Post 44 partnership, we are about one-third of the way to our goal with many fundraisers on the horizon.”
Rapoza also credited other local veterans groups and businesses for their assistance as well as County Commissioner Donna Cameron Cepeda, an Army veteran, for her political support. She encourages others to join their ranks as donors or community supporters as the project makes its way through bureaucratic and construction developments.
You can keep up with the group’s fundraising and networking efforts via its Facebook page, Women Veterans Monument – Hillsborough County.
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