Jerry Heigh, a member of the Exchange Club of Highline, explains the Freedom Shrine that includes reproductions of important documents in U.S. History on Nov. 10. The shrine is located in Burien's Community Center.
On the day before the nation formally honors its veterans, a Freedom Shrine was dedicated at the Burien Community Center.
Members of the Exchange Club of Highline donated the shrine. It consists of photographic reproductions of 29 documents from American history, such as the Bill of Rights, the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence and the US. Constitution.
There are some more obscure reproductions but all are “the types of documents that are important to the United States,” Exchange Club member Jerry Heigh declared during the Nov. 10 ceremony.
The local exchange club has also donated a U.S. servicemen’s Missing in Action Memorial at Washington Memorial Park/Bonney Watson in SeaTac and history education materials to local schools and community centers.
Heigh noted the Highline club, which began in 1961, has about 30 members. The national Exchange organization is the oldest service club in the country with membership exclusively in the U.S., Heigh noted.
The local club has also contributed to local food banks, New Futures, Transform Burien, Child Haven and Ruth Dykeman Children’s Center. The organization also recently distributed over 550 backpacks filled with school supplies to students in the Highline School District.
Heigh thanked Burien City Manager Mike Martin for suggesting the community center at 14700 6th Ave. S.W. as a location for the shrine. Originally, the shrine was slated for the new city hall.
More than 12,000 shrines have been dedicated in schools, military installations and government programs since the program began in 1949.
