Park Towers Event Benefited Local Memorial Fund

By Margaret Downing, REPORTER

MARGARET DOWNING, PHOTO – The Journal.
Diane Benjamin, of Loves Park, left; along with her sister to help out, had some nice holiday decorations and baked goods to offer at the Park Towers craft and bake sale Dec. 9.

Park Towers resident Renee Mitchell has gotten to know fellow resident Marva Brown, whose seven-year old grandson James Lesley Harkins drowned in Rockford in 1996. This was the impetus, Mitchell said, for her to head a Sloppy Joe lunch, craft, bake sale and raffle Dec. 9 – to not only raise some funds for Park Towers but to also raise money for the Harkins Community Memorial Fund, which Marva Brown established after losing her grandson.

“A year later, a seven-year old girl was killed in Rockford in a drive-by shooting,” Brown said. “And, I realized that impoverished families needed some help in seeing that their loved ones received a decent burial.” The Foundation website notes that it is there to “help families faced with the death of a child…” by assisting with funeral costs.

Marva “enlisted the support of friends and family to establish the Harkins Community Memorial Fund, which continues to work to raise funds to help ease the financial burden on families during a time of loss.” Marva explained that help also goes to those who were the victims of domestic violence and said that 75 children have been able to have a decent burial in the past two decades with some help from the Foundation. The Rockford Park District, the YMCA and Gomez AME Church also help to support the organization.