Kellogg Donates $3M to MLK Memorial

WASHINGTON—With the announcement of a new $3 million donation Wednesday, the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial has enough funding to begin construction on the National Mall this spring, officials said.

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The only hurdle left is approval by the National Capital Planning Commission, which foundation officials said is expected in the next several weeks. Foundation president Harry E. Johnson said he is optimistic the memorial will open to visitors on schedule in 2009.

The Kellogg Foundation, the seventh-largest philanthropist organization in the nation, is funded by the cereal-manufacturing family of the same name.

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“The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial is about much more than bricks and mortar and stone,” Speirn [Sterling Speirn, CEO] said. “It is about the heart and soul of the American experience.”