Kelsey Harrison

4600 South Redwood Road

Salt Lake City, UT 84129
kelseyh298@gmail.com
December 11, 2018

Sharyn VanReepinghen
83 Maiden Lane
New York, NY 10038

Dear Sharyn VanReepinghen, Commented [1]: !

Commented [2]:
We are great supporters of the survivors of the Willowbrook Institution. We would like to make
a proposal with your assistance to raise money through an international marathon to build a
memorial in remembrance on Staten Island. We recognize the government has cut funds towards
the Social Security Disability Insurance which can lead to their guardians to be in a financial
bind which can cause a disabled person to be homeless and be left neglected.

We are proposing this memorial to represent the 6,055 patients who were institutionalized at
Willowbrook State school between 1947 to 1987. Due to the harsh conditions at Willowbrook
and Senator Robert Kennedy relating it to a “snake pit”, the Willowbrook Decree was passed to
protect the residents under the 8th and 14th Amendments to be free unethical experimentation
and exposure to harmful environments without consent.

The Boston Marathon, which is a huge event that raises money for 260 non-profit organizations,
raised $36.6 million in 2018. Seeing the success the Boston Marathon has achieved, we are
proposing to host a marathon on the first Saturday of September every year to honor the victims
of Willowbrook. After the marathon, we would like to include a fundraising fair hosted at the
campus Cuny College of Staten Island to allow everyone to participate.

We anticipate that within 36 months we can not only raise enough money to build a Monumental
park but enough to get better equipment and raise teacher salaries. The monumental park will be
near the campus of Cuny College of Staten Island. Of course, our committee will be working
closely with the college, and we are open to compromise.

This monument was inspired, in part, by the Berlin memorial to disabled people killed by the
Nazis in the 1940s. We believe that it is extremely important to bring the abuses at Willowbrook
State School to light. This is an imperative idea. Only by remembering the past, can we, as a
society prevent abuses like this in the future. Keeping this in mind, the memorial itself will be
accessible to folks using wheelchairs, and the plaque will have a section in Braille so that blind
people will be able to read it. Like the memorial in Berlin, the language of the memorial should
be accessible to people with learning disabilities, yet it should not be patronizing.

A conservative cost for the memorial, based on the perhaps similarly-sized Vietnam Veterans
Memorial, would cost about $21.65 million. While not an exact price, it can be mitigated by the
fact that, in addition to the annual race and fair, the memorial committee also accept private
donations.

Indeed, in order to purchase the venue for the first annual race and fair, we will rely on donations
from private entities, referred to us by word of mouth. Of course, since these annual events will
take place at or near Cuny College, we will be working very closely with them.

In conclusion, there are currently 325.7 million people in America and 6.3 percent of those
people (20.5 million) are institutionalized for disabilities. They deserve to have their stories and
history heard and honored. This international marathon we have proposed will not only fund a
monument on Staten Island but it will help fund disability institutions to have better equipment,
staff, education, and conditions.

Sincerely,
Kelsey Harrison