The families of those who perished on March 22, 2014 in the Oso mudslide are working with Snohomish County Parks on building a Memorial. The Memorial will honor those who were lost in the event, the survivors, the responders, and the surrounding communities. The families, survivors and responders participated in a 3 year long, intensive process with Parks staff to generate ideas and settle on a consensus about approach and general principles. The current concept was developed through this process.
The intent of the Memorial is to pay tribute to the lost, the survivors, the response, the communities, healing and resilience of nature. The Memorial holds importance to the families of the lost and the overall community because it is and will be:
*A place of peace and healing for all, whether they knew anyone involved or not.
*A place to show gratitude to local communities and the worldwide response.
*A community gathering space to honor the victims.
*Individual Memorial space to personalize and leave messages and mementos.
The Fundraising Committee is seeking to raise in excess of $6 million to cover the costs of design, permitting, and construction in a relatively remote site. At least $1 million will be placed into an endowment for future maintenance and operation of the Memorial.