![George Duthie and daughter Anna Lee Mershon at their family’s home in Indian Hills. The Duthie family pledged $500,000 to sponsor the Entry Plaza in memory of their wife and mother, Mary Lee Duthie. Photo by Valerie J. Smith](https://waterfrontgardens.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/DuthieWeb1-150x150.jpg)
We are very happy to share the news that we have raised over $1.75 million for the Waterfront Botanical Gardens!
As you may recall, Louisville Metro and Botanica agreed on a $1 purchase price for the 23-acre property. Part of the agreement includes achieving our final milestone: raising $2 million toward the creation of the garden. The $1.75 million raised gets us very close to reaching that $2 million goal.
We’d like to extend a special thank you to two families who have made recent major gifts to the garden effort. George Duthie pledged $500,000 to sponsor the Entry Plaza in loving memory of his wife, Mary Lee.
![Emil & Nancy Graeser. Photo by Valerie J. Smith](https://waterfrontgardens.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Graeser-150x150.jpg)
Emil and Nancy Graeser, who helped kick off our early fundraising efforts, have pledged an additional $225,000 matching grant, adding to their initial gift for a total of $450,000 pledged to the project.
Your support has made this progress possible. Together, we’ve taken significant steps in our journey, but our work is by no means complete. I hope you will continue to support the garden effort as we head in to these next exciting stages.