A permanent memorial to honor Martin Luther King on the National Mall is $1 million closer to reality.
General Electric announced yesterday that it will donate the funds to the memorial -- bringing the total raised to $63 million. The project is estimated to cost $100 million.
"GE is committed to supporting the work of Martin Luther King Jr.," said Deborah Elam, a GE vice president and chief diversity officer.
The announcement was made at a ceremony to celebrate the 43rd anniversary of King's "I Have a Dream" speech at the future site of the memorial on the Tidal Basin.
A ceremonial groundbreaking is scheduled for Nov. 13, and the memorial should be completed in 2008, project planners said.
At yesterday's ceremony, YRC Worldwide Inc., one of the largest trucking companies in the world, announced it would put billboards on three of its tractor-trailers to advertise the memorial and donate $100,000 in school supplies to D.C. Public Schools.
Officials have said they need $66 million to obtain building permits for the site, leaving them $3 million short. They have not yet chosen a contractor.
The 4-acre memorial will sit across the Tidal Basin from the Jefferson Memorial and north of the memorial to former President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In the center will be a 30-foot statue of King called the "Stone of Hope."
In 1996, Congress authorized construction of the memorial. In 1999, the site was approved.
Most of the memorial's funding has come from large corporate sponsors such as General Motors, Pepsi and Exxon-Mobil.
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