FAIRHOPE, Ala. - The Fairhope City Council approved funding Monday to complete the Fairhope Veterans’ Memorial project that will erect a bronze statue and reflecting pool on the bluff overlooking the municipal pier.

“Our fundraising began in 2006, and over the past five years we’ve gotten to the point where we’d like to ask the city to help out,” said Joe Birindelli, co-chair of the veterans’ memorial committee, to the Financial Advisory Committee at its meeting May 23.

Birindelli said the Fairhope Veterans’ Memorial Committee had raised approximately $140,000, most of which paid Fairhope sculptor Stephen C. Spears for the artistic work done on the “Tears of Sorrow, Tears of Joy” statute thus far.

The work that remains is to cast the statue in bronze at a Colorado foundry and then have it delivered and installed, he said.

The statue depicts a woman holding a flag and a soldier kneeling next to a boy to whom he passes a flag. The figures stand on disks, and water flows from one into a reflecting pool. The concept for the statue was developed by Sissy Scott, the wife of a Vietnam veteran, according to the memorial committee’s website.

The FAC heard from several staff persons that funds remaining from loans for capital projects were available for such a project, and that $110,000 had already been approved for a construction project at Theatre 98. That allocation left approximately $250,000 in the capital funds account, according to staff.

The council-appointed financial committee voted unanimously that the project met the criteria for consideration by the council, which added it to its agenda at its meeting that followed.

The council approved the $110,000 allocation, stating that an immediate initial payment of approximately $58,000 would be disbursed for the bronze casting and that the remaining funds would be available as needed for the completion of the project.

Birindelli said fundraising was ongoing for the project and that any funds the committee raised would reduce the amount dedicated by the city.

The memorial honors American military service veterans and will be the only veterans’ memorial on the Eastern Shore, said committee member and World War II veteran Hop Allen.

“We we would like to thank you and salute you for what you just did,” said Allen, after the council voted to approve the funding. Both he and Birindelli saluted the council from the podium in front of the dais.

The Fairhope Veterans’ Memorial Committee was established in 2004. For more information, visit www.fairhopeveteransmemorial.org/html/Committee.htm.