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Vandalized veterans park turns to crowdfunding to repair damage

Friends of McFarlan Memorial Park
McFarlan Veterans Memorial Park

The McFarlan Veterans Memorial Park in Genesee County is fundraising to refurbish memorial panels that were vandalized in May.

Officials say letters were scratched into 18 large panels that displayed the names of fallen soldiers from Genesee County.

Joe Mishler is the President of Friends of McFarlan Veterans Memorial Park. He says this park means a lot to the community.

“The significance of the park is that we are the only park in Genesee County that displays all the names of the soldiers who died serving our country, in all the wars going back to the Spanish American war. So this is sacred ground for a lot of people.”

Friends of McFarlan Veterans Memorial Park created a GoFundMe account with a goal of $35,000 to replace the panels.

“We can’t let this vandalism stand. While we are in the middle of raising money for a much larger project to refurbish the park. So the panels being destroyed we’ve had to put some things aside to focus on this.”

Supporters hope to have the panels replaced by Memorial Day 2018.