The inscribed memorial bricks for sale for the Brevard Veteran's Memorial Gardens Park are located in front of the Brevard Veteran's Memorial Center & Museum at 400 S. Sykes Crk. Pkwy., Merritt Island:
There are 3 sizes and prices for these bricks. They are:
- Sz. 4" x 8" is $75 pre-construction & $100 after construction;
- Sz. 8" x 8" is $125 pre-construction & $175 after construction;
- Sz. 16" x 16" is $350 pre-construction & $400 after construction.
There is room for 3 lines and 12 spaces per line on these bricks.
The following is an article on this in the Florida Today newspaper on 1-8-07:
Brevard Veterans Memorial Garden taking shape.
Group selling bricks to help raise funds for this project.
By Norman Moody, Fla. Today Veterans Editor.
Merritt Island - Veterans envision a memorial with inscriptions honoring those who served in every branch of the military, set along a brick walkway amid 2 helicopters displayed on the grounds of the Brevard Veterans Memorial Center. "I think this is going to really be a nice veterans center park," said Walt Ranallo, vice chairman of the memorial committee. The memorial garden will be a monument set in a pentagon shape with a brick and marble walkway that will wind around the base of 2 Vietnam-era helicopters displayed in front of the Brevard Veterans Center & Museum at 400 S. Sykes Creek Parkway (behind the SE cor. of Merritt Sq. Mall). The brick walkway will extend from its parking lot. The memorial will display the flags of each of the military services and commemorative markers &/or monuments for each war or conflict in which the United States has played a role. Park benches will be placed near the south end. "We're going to be putting more displays; we have a U.S. Army tank recently put in place near the mounted helicopters, said Ken Baker, who is chairman of the memorial committee. "It's something that's well deserved for this area." The center already has a UH-1H Huey and an AH-1G Cobra helicopter, each hovering on 15 foot tall pedestals.
The displays are intended to draw the general public inside to the Veterans Memorial Museum, which has free exhibits of military memorabilia, equipment and uniforms. Paving bricks that will be used on the memorial will be sold and engraved as memorials or to honor a veteran or anyone or organization a buyer chooses. The veterans are counting on sales of the brick memorials to raise the funds to build the monument, estimated up to $75,000. "The money from the bricks will go to pay for everything", said Maurice Meisner, chairman of the Veterans Memorial Center, which is on county property. "We're not relying on the county spending a penny." Meisner said they hope to start work on the memorial by July but so far have only collected about $4,000 toward the cost. Area veterans started talking more than 3 years ago about building the memorial park. Last Spring, they began work on the plans and permitting process. Now they must wait for the county's approval. It also must raise the money through donations and from brick sales. "There is a bit of frustration," Ranallo said. "We want to get things done now." Order forms for memorial bricks can be found online at: http://members.aol.com/vetcouncil/brickform.pdf . You can also call the Brev. Vets Mem. Ctr. at 453-1776 for more info or to have them fax or mail you a copy of the mem. brick order form.