Honoring Those Who Have Served

For All Who Have Fallen.

This moving inscription will be etched on the massive archway that will serve as the entrance to the planned Central Florida Veterans Memorial Park at Lake Nona. The memorial park has been designed to provide a tranquil atmosphere, where veterans, family members and friends can honor those who have served and made the supreme sacrifice for their country. To date, the development of

the memorial has been privately funded, however, some local public funding may be provided.

Granite monuments will list the names of 1,100 local fallen soldiers, representing Brevard, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia counties.

The four-acre park will feature shaded areas and benches where visitors can reflect and pay tribute to uniformed soldiers who lost their lives defending the U.S., beginning with World War I. The memorial, which is estimated to cost about $1.5 million to build, will receive no federal funding and will rely primarily on the donations of philanthropists, individuals and the private sector for the construction and ongoing maintenance of the grounds.

To accomplish this mission, the Central Florida Veterans Memorial Park Foundation was created. This nonprofit organization has launched a fundraising campaign with a goal of $3 million. According to Jerry Pierce, president of CFVMPF who served in Korea during the Vietnam War, about $500,000 in contributions and commitments has been received.

“Our immediate goal is to have $1 million in cash and commitments by the end of this year, so we can start construction in January 2012,” Pierce said.

“The veterans memorial will be an important addition to Lake Nona and will no doubt become a focal point of the Orlando VA Medical Center and the broader community,” Zboril said. “It has been a pleasure working with the Central Florida Veterans Memorial Park Foundation, and we all look forward to seeing this fitting memorial constructed at Lake Nona.”

Others have stepped forward to make the memorial a reality. RLF, an architecture, planning, engineering and interior design firm located in Winter Park, designed the facility and is providing all engineering-related services pro bono.

Appropriately, the lakefront park will be located across from the south entrance of the Orlando VA Medical Center that is scheduled to open in the fall of 2012. The 1.2 million-square-foot medical center will be part of the 65-acre parcel, dubbed Medical City, which also will include the University of Central Florida College of Medicine, Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, University of Florida Academic and Research Center, and Nemours Children’s Hospital.

According to CFVMPF, Central Florida is the No. 1 destination for veterans returning from deployment and has more veterans older than 65 and who are more than 50 percent disabled than any other major metropolitan area in the U.S. About 400,000 veterans live in this part of the state. Ironically, it has been the only major metropolitan area in the U.S. without a full-service VA facility. With the completion of the Lake Nona facility, medical care can be extended to local veterans and veterans visiting from other areas.

The entrance to the VA Medical Center will bear its own inscription: For Those Who Serve.

The anticipated world-class memorial park will serve as a meaningful symbol of patriotism, not only for past and present veterans, but for future generations of soldiers and their families.

“Even though our economy has been weak, we always must remember that those we are honoring and healing have given far more than any of us, some making the ultimate sacrifice for the freedoms we enjoy today,” Pierce said.



For more information about the Central Florida Veterans Memorial Park at Lake Nona or how to make a donation, visit www.cfvmpf.org on the Web.