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The Community Service Award recognizes an individual or organization that has significantly improved an Illinois community, with particular emphasis on public landscapes.
The Chicago Police Memorial Foundation receives the award this year for its contribution to the city's museum campus. In its effort to honor Chicago police officers who have died in the line of duty, the foundation hopes to develop Gold Star Family Park - named after a federal program that recognizes those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of the nation - into the city's next great lakefront park.
Although the five-acre site features a quiet path that winds through 460 flowering crab trees - one for each fallen police officer - the foundation felt the park hadn't realized its full potential as a sacred place for families to commune with loved ones. It invited local landscape architects to spearhead a redesign that would make visitors realize they're looking at something special from the moment they encounter the park, whether they're in a car driving past, on a bike passing through or standing outside the Shedd Aquarium.
Formed in 2004, the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation is well on its way to raising the millions of dollars necessary to fund the park as well as support programs for officers and their families. Its efforts are a sign to all the citizens of Chicago, as well as the nation, that the city's business and civic leaders care about police officers and their families.
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