LA QUINTA – Veterans, veterans organizations, military service and support organizations, and community members are welcome — and encouraged — to place items into a special veterans time capsule that will be part of Lake Cahuilla Veterans Regional Park.

Items are needed by Tuesday, May 22.

The time capsule will be placed in the tribute site at Lake Cahuilla Veterans Regional Park, which will be dedicated at 7 p.m. May 25.

Items Sought for Veterans Time Capsule

Supervisor V. Manuel Perez with a veteran at a Memorial Day ceremony in 2017.

“Lake Cahuilla Veterans Regional Park is the first park in our county park system named in honor of veterans, and I’m very proud that veterans have had a major part in its design and features,” Supervisor V. Manuel Perez said in a prepared statement. “The veterans time capsule was one of the suggestions that was brought forth by local veterans that we are  incorporating. We want as many veterans and organizations to take part in this historic occasion.”

Perez engaged the Palm Springs Air Museum for professional assistance in curating items for the time capsule. Frank Castner, the museum’s volunteer librarian and archivist, volunteered to assist the county in this effort. The gifted items will be processed, recorded, assigned archive numbers and placed in protective materials to preserve them 40 years from now, when the time capsule will be unearthed and opened.

Everyone, not just veterans, is invited to submit an item into the time capsule.

Items should be small, thin and veteran-centric. They can include individual keepsakes such as photographs, medals and family letters, membership rosters, newspaper articles, or resolutions from organizations, federal and state representatives, cities and special districts.

Approximately 50 letters to veterans written by students from Benjamin Franklin Elementary School in La Quinta will be included in the time capsule.

To donate an item for the veterans time capsule, bring it to the Palm Springs Air Museum Library, located in Palm Springs, 745 N. Gene Autry Trail. Deliveries should be made between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday, Wednesday or Friday.

Perez represents the eastern two-thirds of Riverside County on the Riverside County Board of Supervisors. Stretching from Palm Springs and Desert Hot Springs, south to the Salton Sea and east to Blythe and the Colorado River, the 4th District is the largest geographical district in the county.

Supervisor Perez’s office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.