MADISON COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — Loved ones will memorialize those they lost from COVID-19 during the "Walk to Remember" coming up next month.
The walk is planned for Saint Joseph Berea on July 23rd starting at 9 a.m.
"With a lot of COVID families, they didn't get to say a goodbye to their family members and loved ones, so this is kind of a closure for them," event organizer and Berea Chamber of Commerce manager, Debra Warford, said.
During the walk, participants can carry a brick with their loved ones' names etched on them. The short walk will end at a gazebo in front of the hospital.
The bricks will then be laid into the path leading up to the gazebo.
One of them will be for Keith Taylor's mom.
"Very touching," Taylor said. "I'm just so honored and glad that we are doing that in memory of COVID victims and my mom."
She died in 2020.
"I come here when I'm having a tough day," he said while visiting her grave.
Soon, he'll have another place to visit: the memorial gazebo at Saint Joseph Berea.
Renee Combs's sister will also have a brick laid in her honor there. Combs came up with the idea for the memorial.
"She is smiling in heaven right now saying go girl," Combs said about her sister who died from COVID-19. "I am so happy we are doing this not only for her but all the people who have died of COVID."
Combs said it will be her way of saying goodbye.
"She was a great mother, grandmother, and a sister, and daughter," she said with tears streaming down her face. "She was one of the good ones."
The deadline to order a brick for loved ones who have died from COVID-19 is July 1st. A $20 donation will pay for it. You are asked to mail the form below with a check to the address listed on the form.
Anyone with questions can call (859) 986- 9760 or email chamber@bereachamber.com.
