A new campaign push will begin this week. The Walk of Heroes Veterans War Memorial project, based in Conyers, will be reaching out to regional residents, veterans and leaders to request donations.

Started in 2000, the memorial is a visual and interactive concept to cultivate public understanding of the sacrifices made by veterans on battlefields during and since the 20th century. In 2013 the Georgia General Assembly recognized the Walk of Heroes as a Statewide Memorial.

The memorial, recognized by the Georgia General Assembly as a Statewide Memorial in 2013, gets more than 500 visitors a month.

“All kinds of events (presentations of unawarded medals, marriages, reunions, etc), along with multiple ‘tours’ involving one or more vans/busses from around Georgia are now occurring,” said Tommy Clack, President and Chair of the Board of Directors for the memorial via email.

However, since the downturn in the economy, fundraising for this regional project has come to a standstill. Worse, the investment projects that have already been completed have experienced depreciation and decay.

For example, the Fountain was completed in 2004 and operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week until June 2015 when a leak in the in-ground control box flooded the box with three feet of water.

The repair of the fountain is but one of the 11 projects the Board of Directors identified that needed repair or regular maintenance. The new fundraising campaign will be “for repairs,” to be used for maintenance and repairs of this Memorial now and in the future.

The memorial’s board of directors, made up of all volunteers, is committed to working with individuals and groups on creative ways to raise these funds by Memorial Day, 2016.

Clack stressed that no contribution to this endeavor is too small.

“Eventually this 900-foot-long multi-faceted memorial will become the Arlington of the South. But it is going to take everyone getting involved to solve this current need.”

For more information on the Walk of Heroes, go to their website at walkofheroes.org. A virtual tour and a drone video can show you the park from unique vantage points. Fundraising efforts will begin March 2016.