Organizers say they need $175,000 to help finish a memorial to first responders outside the Metropolitan Convention Center in Columbia before this year's 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The memorial will feature two steel beams from the World Trade Center and a wall of remembrance that will honor first responders and soldiers who have died while on duty.

The memorial project started four years ago, but project leader Dan Hennigan says it is a dream he has had since 1997.

Hennigan says he wants the memorial project to have the same spirit that filled students at White Knoll Middle School, who raised more than $500,000 to buy a New York City fire station a new fire truck after the station lost an engine in the terror attack.