Source: JEN PILLA, Charlotte Observer, Staff Writer

Extracted Article Text (OCR)
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Parents of deceased children too often grieve alone in cemeteries crossing paths only with other mourners on their way to lonely headstones says Jerry Mudge are places of said Mudge who founded Footprints Ministry for bereaved parents eight years ago want to get people out of the cemeteries and into a place of So Mudge the mother of two sons killed in a car crash a decade ago has been working for almost five years to build a place unlike a cemetery where parents friends and area residents can gather to celebrate the memories of children who have died Mecklenburg County commissioners gave the OK this week for the Memorial Walkway to be located on a patch of land in Frazier Neighborhood Park off Fourth Street in Third Ward Mudge said it will be a living memorial where the whole community can come together to remember deceased children commemorate their short lives and heal from grief Where now just a checkerboard pattern of 20-year-old bricks and grass by a playground Mudge envisions park benches cherry trees and new memorial bricks engraved with the names of deceased children For a $50 donation to the pro ject parents relatives and friends can have a memorial brick engraved with the name of their choice And Mudge said her group is looking for corporate sponsors to buy bricks for people who afford them Footprints Ministry and five other support groups Kinder-Moum New South Healthcare Mothers of Murdered Offspring Caring Hearts and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Alliance for the Carolinas will hold a candlelight service at Frazier Park at 4:30 pm today to kick off the project Mudge 58 said she thought she had succeeded five years ago in finding a spot for a memorial garden behind the Charlotte-Meck-lenburg school board building next to Marshall Park But when Mudge and her group were told it would cost them at least $500000 to buy the land they started looking for other locations City and county staffers eventually steered her to Frazier Park The location is ideal Mudge said because it has plenty of parking and the county was willing to let the group use the land free as long as it pays the cost of construction and upkeep The money raised from selling bricks will help pay for that Skip Mudge Jerry husband of three years and partner in the Footprints Ministry said they hope to sell 1500 bricks

Published on December 11, 1999, Page 1C, Charlotte Observer, The (NC)