About the Fund
Music is the sound track to our lives, music that gets us through the bad times and helps us celebrate the good ones on our journey. Those of you reading this have chosen to allow Allman Brothers music to be part of that experience.
When you go to Macon it's only natural that Rose Hill will be a place to go and pay quiet respect to two of the men who helped create the music before leaving too soon; Duane Allman and Berry Oakley. But not all fans are respectful and not all visitors are fans. Unfortunately, the graves have been included in rather macarbe tours of fallen musicians.
Because we, as friends and family, wish to protect these graves from ill conceived acts of vandelism and to preserve the peaceful resting place of Duane and Berry, plans have been made to build a fence to protect them.
Rose Hill is on the National Historical Register and the plans were drawn to reflect the historical nature of the cemetery and yet create a fan friendly area that will be both beautiful and secure. Building this fence is a project we as fans have chosen as a way to say 'Thank you' to Duane and Berry for their music.
The initial fundraising goal is $30,000 for the cost of the fence with additional monies raised to place in trust for weekly maintenance of the graves. Here are some of the ways that are in place right now to begin the fundraising.
First there are going to be four levels of participation for names to be listed on the wall at the bottom of the stairs to the viewing platform. Bronze will be for contributions of at least $250, silver for $500, gold for $1,000 and platinum for $2,500 and up.
You don't have to send in your money all at once....it will take several months to get the fence built and the wall of honor ready to be ordered. (It will be in granite rather than bronze or marble because it will allow for more names to be added at a later date.) Records will be kept of each contributor and as each donation is made, it will be listed individually, which will enable those of you who want a place on the memorial to achieve that goal for small donations each month.
These donations are NOT tax deductible. Because this fund is for a specific purpose rather than a long term ongoing one, the expense to make it a non-profit is prohitibive. And all donations will be kept private and confidential.
Other fundraising ideas include a limited edition of an original T-shirt as is a limited edition of numbered prints containing the artwork of the T-shirt. It will be an officially sanctioned shirt by the members of the family.
There are other people who are currently working on another fundraising project that will be announced later. It will also be approved by the family when it's ready.
We can get this fence built....my dad always said it's easier to find a million men with $1 than it is to find one man with a million dollars. It won't take much if a lot of us come together to contribute what we can or adopt the project with a monthly contribution of whatever we are able to spare. This is an enduring part of the Allman Brothers legacy that you have the chance to become part of and it will be a true gift of appreciation for the music created by both Duane and Berry.
