Memorial Update - January 2023

Dear Friends and Supporters,

As we begin 2023, our focus will remain navigating the 24-step process to build our Memorial, educating everyone on our mission, and moving closer to achieving our fundraising goal of $100M. We at the Global War on Terrorism Memorial Foundation will keep you updated and engaged throughout the year. I ask that each of you start 2023 by sharing our mission within your networks -- you represent the mission!

What has brought this incredibly diverse team of supporters together is our acceptance of the duty that we share in honoring all those who have stepped forward to serve our nation in its longest war. That is the heart of the Foundation’s one primary mission: to plan, coordinate, fundraise, and build the National GWOT Memorial. Having been granted an exemption to build our Memorial within the Reserve on the National Mall on December 27th, 2021, the Foundation enthusiastically began 2022 by initiating Phase 2 of our Memorial Mission Plan:?SITE SELECTION.

?????We appeared before the National Capital Memorial Advisory Commission (NCMAC) on October 18th of 2022. Utilizing site development criteria, we developed 35 sites and then narrowed them down to 3 potential locations. The 2-hour hearing was tremendously beneficial for the Foundation and refined our efforts. You can watch the entire hearing?HERE?utilizing the passcode?WHVKK85U. The meeting, including our document submissions which contain our proposed sites, can be found?HERE.

?????Following our meeting and the guidance we received, we developed the site NCMAC instructed us to look at again. I am happy to report that we will provide our follow-up briefing on the 31st of January! Getting a site approval from NCMAC will allow us to engage with the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) and the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) to get final site approval. We forecast that we will have our site secured very soon this year.

?We are incredibly grateful for the many supporters who continue to support our mission every day. We will continue to follow our tenets: HONOR, HEAL, EMPOWER, UNITE. These tenets keep us on azimuth and ensure we approach our mission with the sanctity and reverence it deserves. With your help, we will stand side by side in front of a Memorial our entire nation can be proud of, a Memorial that tells the story of an incredibly complex, multigenerational war.

Gracias and God Bless,

Michael "Rod" Rodriguez