Fundraising starts for Fallen Heroes Memorial in San Mateo

The monument recognizes San Mateo community members who died while on duty for the military and San Mateo Police and Fire departments and features a red poppy design. At its May 19 meeting, the City Council approved a $25,000 seed donation to help incentivize donations and another $25,000 when the advisory committee has raised enough funds from outside sources to match. The money comes from the city’s general fund unassigned fund balance.

Fundraising for the $240,000 memorial recently started, which will primarily be raised through community donations. The city will also have a webpage to provide memorial information and collect donations that will go live June 1. The Parks and Recreation Foundation will handle the donations to ensure donors can deduct the contribution from their taxes.

“I think it’s very important for us to have a way that we can recognize our fallen and let our veterans work with us to do that. To show them more of the respect that they deserve and bringing the community together around this to realize that war has a cost,” Deputy Mayor Rick Bonilla said.

In 2018, then councilmember Maureen Freschet formed an advisory committee to pick a design, with a remembrance poppy design eventually receiving November council approval. The red poppy is a flower and worldwide symbol popularized after World War I in Europe to recognize and remember veterans who died. The design features seven vertical stainless steel column poppy pieces that unite to form a single poppy flower when viewed from a certain angle. Each of the seven columns will represent a branch of the military and the San Mateo emergency services and include the names of people who died in service.

“It’s meant to offer a place of contemplation and reflection in a serene subset of the very busy Central Park,” City Clerk Patrice Olds, a city liaison to the advisory committee, said.

The council also approved a recognition policy for the Fallen Heroes Memorial, which will provide clear guidance on the criteria required to have a name on it. The policy uses military resources to gather names for past conflicts, makes distinctions between military and safety personnel, lists criteria for name placement on the memorial and details the application process for name placement. The city needed a criteria policy for unclear situations, such as a person who lived in San Mateo but was recorded as living in San Francisco or records that show a person’s connection to San Mateo.

“This is meant to be a process where we can vet that. It also gives guidance on definitions for what does [the] line of duty mean, and it outlines the process and criteria that will be used going forward,” Olds said.

Mayor Eric Rodriguez thanked Freschet for being the chair of the memorial advisory committee and spearheading fundraising and organizing efforts. He noted the memorial would help beautify the park and help educate future generations.

“I am just looking forward to seeing this in Central Park,” he said.

curtis@smdailyjournal.com

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