Joyce Moed | News Samples

Contributing to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial

By Joyce Moed, Reporter

WASHINGTON–Twenty-six out of the 44 U.S. credit union leagues–and 149 individual credit unions–have pledged to contribute to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.

That number has more than doubled since June, at which time the Credit Union Journal reported that some 65 credit unions had pledged their support to the memorial. In addition, several CU vendors have pledged to contribute.

“We collaboratively came together as a team which really should make everyone feel good about themselves,” said Hubert Hoosman Jr., president of Vantage Credit Union in St. Louis and treasurer of the African-American Credit Union Coalition.

The total amount pledged to the memorial by the credit union movement at present is $1,169,413.97, Hoosman said, and more than $1.1 million had already been collected. (In June, the CU Journal had reported bout $700,000 in pledges, with $500,000 being so far collected.) This qualifies the CU movement to have a place on the donor wall of the memorial–a requirement for which a minimum donation of $1 million is necessary.

“The credit union movement will be on the monument forever,” Hoosman said. “At this point, there is not one bank that has qualified. This is something that’s a historic project for credit unions.”
The King Memorial will be located on the National Mall in Washing on the Tidal Basin, adjacent to the F.D.R. Memorial, and in a direct line between the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials. The site is also near the location of King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech, which took place more than 40 years ago. The memorial’s design will honor King’s life and work. Quotations from King’s writing, sermons and speeches will be engraved on the Memorial Wall. President Clinton signed a Joint Congressional Resolution in 1998 to create a four-acre memorial that will be the first on the National Mall to honor a person of color. The total cost of the memorial will be $100 million, and is expected to be completed by winter 2008.

“This monument will also have restrooms. None of the others do,” Hoosman said. “This will make it easier for families to visit it.”

Outside of the credit union movement, artists, musicians, athletes and authors are also contributing. This list includes: Angela Basset, Tommy Hilfiger, Morgan Freeman, Whoopie Goldberg, Samuel L. Jackson, Martin Sheen, all former U.S. presidents and the NBA/WNBA. And in 1995, the Senate voted to provide $10 million in federal funding for the project.

The campaign to attract supporters to the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial was created by the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, and asks for all Americans to help “Build the Dream.”