Event to raise money in support of new Army-honoring park and visitor venues at Fort Jackson, South Carolina

By W. Thomas Smith Jr.

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The GATEWAY TO THE ARMY ASSOCIATION – a non-profit organization with a mission of designing, funding, and building Fort Jackson’s Centennial Park – will host its first-ever Centennial Park Fundraiser, Wed., Nov. 13 at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center. The event will begin at 5:30 p.m. with a silent auction followed by a live auction at 7:00 p.m.

“This is going to be an exciting evening, a lot of fun, auctioning-off a lot of great items from parachute jumps to an autographed Clemson national championship football signed by Dabo Swinney,” says Gateway president and chairman Marty Wells, a retired U.S. Army command sergeant major. “Not to mention all the local celebrities and friends and supporters of the largest Army basic training facility in the nation; with all proceeds going toward Centennial Park on Fort Jackson.”

In honor of Fort Jackson’s 100-year anniversary which was celebrated in 2017, the planned Centennial Park will feature a grand 300-seat amphitheater with a towering monument depicting two drill sergeants (one male, one female), six Greek-styled visitors pavilions, a brick-paved “pathway of patriots,” a wartime theater montage and so much more.

Total cost of the project is projected to be $2.7 million (both monetary and in-kind construction support). The association has already raised $1.5 million.

Tickets for the Centennial Park Fundraiser are available at – https://www.gatewaytothearmy.org/centennial-park-fundraiser-register.

Sponsorship information is available at – https://www.gatewaytothearmy.org/sites/gatewaytothearmy.org/files/centennial_park_fundraiser_-_sponsorship_information.pdf.

According to Gateway, Fort Jackson trains the largest number of men and women in the initial entry training phase of the U.S. Army. Moreover, the post, which serves as home to numerous other key military activities involving all other U.S. armed forces, generates more than $4,000,000 in annual revenue for Columbia, the Midlands overall and the state of South Carolina.

The Gateway to the Army Association was established in May 2015.

– For more information about the Centennial Park Fundraiser, visit https://www.gatewaytothearmy.org.