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TO: Mayor Richard C. Irvin
FROM: Alex G. Alexandrou, Chief Management Officer
Trevor Dick, AICP, LEED AP, Director of Development Strategy and Development
DATE: December 7, 2020
SUBJECT:
A Resolution to Approve the Acceptance of a Donation Agreement with the American Philhellenes Society for Installation of a Commemorative Monument at Wilder Park.
PURPOSE:
The purpose of approving the resolution is to enter into a donation agreement with the American Philhellenes Society ("Society") who plans to construct, install, and donate a commemorative monument at Wilder Park.
BACKGROUND:
The American Philhellenes Society is a certified 501c3 nonprofit organization established to identify, highlight and honor those Americans who supported and/or fought for the independence of Greece during the years 1810-1840 and to recognize and make known their contributions to the cause of freedom and democracy. The Society's efforts to date have included significant educational, historical and cultural presentations in Athens, Greece, Washington DC, Indiana, Wisconsin, and numerous locations in Illinois including Aurora in 2007. They have issued a series of commemorative stamps to memorialize George Jarvis and William Washington, both Americans who fought alongside the Greek freedom fighters in the Greek War of Independence. Additionally in Wisconsin, the Society located and restored the gravesite of Lucas Miltiades Miller, an orphan of the Greek War, who was adopted by American Col. Jonathan Peckham Miller while in Greece and went on to serve the State of Wisconsin as the first Greek American in the United States Congress. The Society erected an obelisk monument at his gravesite at Riverside Cemetery in Oshkosh, Wisconsin and held a program at the University of Wisconsin to commemorate the occasion. Lastly the Society also has erected a similar monument in Greece to commemorate the heroic efforts of the Americans who fought in the Greek War of Independence.
DISCUSS...
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