Central Florida Veterans Memorial Park Foundation, Inc.

                Wharton-Smith, Inc. to be General Contractor
                         For Construction of the Memorial

We are honored to have the prestigious Wharton-Smith, Inc. general contractor, partner with the CFVMPF foundation to construct this World Class Veterans Memorial.  Wharton-Smith’s goal of exceeding clients’ expectations by performing with the highest quality, professionalism, and fairness with honesty and integrity has resulted in an award winning solid reputation as a General Contractor, Construction Manager and Design-Build Contractor through0ut Florida, the Southeastern U.S. and abroad.

Mr. Ron Davoli, President of Wharton-Smith said, “It is our honor to be selected to partner in this high-profile, important community project.”  He has further offered to make a generous in-kind donation of overhead and profit fees.  Wharton-Smith will coordinate bidding with the local subcontractor and supplier community to provide the highest quality project at the most economical price to the Foundation.

The Wharton-Smith team will work closely with Mr. Ron Lowry, Chairman of RLF Architects and the RLF team to accomplish a wide range of functions to include coordination with Lake Nona Land Management, the Veterans Administration, and the City of Orlando for various permits.  RLF Architects is donating all architectural services as in-kind contributions and is also being assisted by Don McIntosh Engineering, Universal Engineering, and Boyd Civil Engineering, also all donating their services.

Detailed construction schedules are being developed to allow construction to begin in early 2013.

Orange and Seminole Counties Provide Huge Boost to Campaign

Soon after a generous gift of $250,000 from Massey Services, Inc., Orange County Commissioners unanimously voted a grant of $500,000 and that was followed up with another unanimous vote by Seminole County Commissioners for a grant of $150,000.  These recent gifts brought the fund raising to about 50% of the total goal of $3,000,000 needed for construction and for the endowment.

Although contributions are from the heart and from a sense of commitment to all those who have served and to those that made the ultimate sacrifice, the difference in dollar amount by counties is roughly related to the number of names of the fallen to be honored on the memorial walls and also to the number of living veterans in each county.  Per the 2010 census the number of living veterans per county is as follows:

                            Brevard        75,188                  Osceola        17,606

                            Lake             42,112                 Seminole       33,688

                            Orange         89,634                  Volusia         58,883        

                                                         Total 317,111

Membrs of the board of CFVMPF are in the process of meeting with commissioners of Brevard, Lake, Osceola, and Volusia Counties and with the City of Orlando for their support also.

Jerry E. Pierce, Chairman of CFVMPF noted that it is not surprising that all six counties and the City of Orlando would want to support this Memorial as it is far more than “just a memorial” even though other memorials are important as well.  He stated further that what is different is that this is the only Veterans Memorial that is adjacent to and part of a VA Medical Center in the entire country.  It is also on the center axis and focal point of the new VA Medical Center with the entire VA complex covering 65 acres roughly the size of a theme park like Sea World.

The VA Medical Center will be not only the focus of our community, but also nationally showing what our community and nation has done and is doing to honor and heal our veterans and the families visiting the VA Medical Center and Memorial.  It will also be a place of education as to the cost of freedom and that freedom is not free.