For Immediate Release
Contact:
Todd Ragusa
504.330.2202
todd@ragusaconsulting.com
Press Kit Attached
Remember Them to Unveil Monument on Sept. 6, Honoring 25 Humanitarians Who Changed History
Maya Angelou, Ruby Bridges and national VIPs join celebration in Oakland, Calif., to install the largest bronze monument in the West
Oakland, Calif. — Remember Them: Champions for Humanity, a world-class monument featuring 25 humanitarians, will be publicly unveiled in a free ceremony open to the public from 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM PST on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2011, at 19th Street & Rashida Muhammad (near Telegraph Ave.) in Oakland, California. The ceremony will feature Maya Angelou and Ruby Bridges, and will be attended by Donzaleigh Abernathy, Julianna Roosevelt, and Ambassador Attallah Shabazz. The celebration will also include actor Peter Coyote, Michael Morgan & the Oakland East Bay Symphony, and Congresswoman Barbara Lee.Title sponsor Kaiser Permanente will be represented by Bernard Tyson and George Halvorson.
Remember Them: Champions for Humanity is an inspirational and educational world-class monument that honors 25 humanitarians, including Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, Chief Joseph, Susan B. Anthony, Oskar Schindler, Thich Nhat Hanh, Elie Wiesel, Helen Keller, Shirin Ebadi, Nelson Mandela and several others.
Oakland native and master artist Mario Chiodo developed the project following the fateful events of 9/11 as an expression of how difficult times can call forth humanity’s best efforts. The Remember Them monument, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit project of the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce Foundation, will be the largest bronze sculpture in the West, the first grouping of international humanitarians in the United States, and the first monument in the U.S. to honor diversity. Remember Them will be placed in Henry J. Kaiser Memorial Park, in the newly renovated Uptown neighborhood in downtown Oakland. The four-piece sculpture will stand 52 feet wide by 25 feet tall, cover 1,000 square feet and use more than 40,000 lbs. of bronze. A special feature for the visually impaired will allow visitors to explore life-sized bronze busts of each humanitarian, and will include information in Braille. In the first phase of installation, three of the five sections will be unveiled on Sept. 6.
Kaiser Permanente is Remember Them’s lead sponsor, and other major supporters include AT&T, Bank of America, Catholic Health Care West, The Clorox Company, Horizon Beverage, Rotary International #3 (Oakland), Ramsell Holding Corp., Securitas, Wells Fargo and The Whalen Family Foundation—among others. Southwest Airlines is the official carrier of Remember Them.
Additional Remember Them installation events include: • Sept. 10: 6:00 – 9:00 PM—A sold-out fundraising gala to support the completion of the Remember Them monument. • Sept. 11: 5:00 – 7:30 AM—A free public Silent Vigil marking the 10th anniversary of 9/11.
Visit Remember Them: Champions for Humanity at www.remember-them.org for information and images.
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