News and stories

$50K needed for Kingsport's Gold Star Memorial monument project

Kristi O'Connor | WCYB News 5

Members of the Kingsport community broke ground on a monument Monday that is being built in honor of Gold Star families.

The $50,000 project will be built at the Kingsport veteran's memorial adjacent to Dobyns Bennett High School located off of Fort Henry Drive.

Fundraising efforts have collected $28,000 from private and public contributions as of Monday, according to monument organizers.

Gold Star mother Brenda Shelton lost her son in 2010 when his helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan.

She says her biggest fear is that her son's sacrifice will be forgotten.

"We enjoy the life we do because of men like him and others before him who were willing to go and preserve the freedoms we have and ensure that we can even be here today,” Shelton said.

The monument is expected to be finished in the fall of 2017.

Interested parties who would like to make a donation to the project can contact Vanessa Bennett at Leadership Kingsport at (423) 392-8813 or by email at vbennett@kingsportchamber.org.