Support the Proposed Austin Cancer Survivors Plaza
A group of Austin TX area volunteers working with the Prostate Cancer Resource Center, the Austin Parks Foundation, the RA Bloch Cancer Foundation and others is working to fund and build a Cancer Survivors Plaza in central Austin. The group would complete a plaza in front of the Palmer Event Center, adding additional paths, water features, native plants and some required elements to the site. A grant of $1 M would fund the plaza, with $900,000 for construction of improvements and remaining $100,000 to start a maintenance and operations fund. No public funding (city, state, or federal) would be used. We need your support to obtain approval from the City of Austin and we hope that you'll join with us. We want the plaza to be a welcome addition to our parks system.
We the undersigned support the approval and development of the Bloch Cancer Survivors Plaza in Central Austin, at the pool in front of the Palmer Event Center. The RA Bloch Cancer Foundation has pledged $1 Million, including $100,000 that will be used to start a maintenance and operations fund that local advocates and organizations will actively fundraise to increase.
The proposed design (further details at: http://austinsurvivorplaza.wordpress.com/) will add to an incomplete design that was built with reduced budgets when the Palmer Event Center was constructed. Our goal is to add to the site with native materials, water features and native landscaping. We believe that the site will serve as a inspirational place for anyone, but especially those battling a chronic or life-threatening disease.
We know that this public/private effort represents a shift in how we fund and operate parks (or portions of parks) in Austin TX but we hope that it can serve as an example for how to work collaboratively with potential funders (in this case, a non-profit dedicated to helping those battling cancer get 2nd opinions on their diagnosis) and community activists.
Thank you for your time. We do hope that you'll support the proposed survivor plaza.
