The park, a $6 million undertaking, will honor fallen American service members from every military branch and every major conflict since World War I. It broke ground in July, is being built on 6 acres and will adjoin a 4-acre memorial park dedicated to brigade-sized monuments.

Names of fallen soldiers with ties to Washington state will be inscribed on large basalt markers, and a computerized kiosk will be installed where visitors can look up information.

The project appears to resemble the National Mall in Washington, D.C., only on a much smaller scale.

“This is an absolutely incredible thing that they’re trying to launch and raise money for,” said Steve West, marketing director for the dealers association. “This allows any family, any military veteran to be able to have an area to go back and reflect about a loss.”

Dealers have worked with military fundraising campaigns in the past, but only as individual dealerships, said Kerry Bivens, owner of Kia of Puyallup and Toyota of Puyallup.

“When this opportunity to build Reflection Park came up, Steve actually brought it to the group and said, ‘This is something we can all get behind as an association,’” Bivens said. “We all felt good about this and felt it was the right thing to do.”

“There was never a question – it was 100 percent (supported) from the first time we started discussing it,” West said.

Dealers have been donating since Sept. 15 and will wrap up the fundraising program Dec. 15. Over the three months, the association expects to raise between $30,000 and $35,000.

The dealers felt a sense of obligation to contribute after learning that the two nonprofit organizations leading the fundraising effort needed help.

“They don’t have the organization to be able to move it forward,” West said. “It needs a full community awareness.”