This memorial commission was planned to honor the efforts of Matt Devenney, the Director of the Jackson, Mississippi, Homeless Shelter. While trying to help a homeless, mentally ill shelter resident, the 36 year old father of an infant son was shot to death. To recognize his life and efforts, the shelter’s Board of Directors commissioned a monument to be placed in front of the shelter, the location of his death.

The memorial consists of three elements:

 A deciduous tree: The tree represents life, evolving from season to 

 season year to year. Constantly changing in size, 

 shape, and color, the shade of the tree would also 

 provide physical comfort for the homeless on hot 

 summer days.

 A black granite slab: The slab symbolizes man’s icon of death. That final 

 permanent marker that remembers the physical 

 presence of man. The granite slab is etched with the 

 words from a letter that Matt wrote to his mother a 

 few months before his death.

“I won’t end hunger, but I vow to end someone’s hunger. I won’t cure cancer, but I vow to console and strengthen some victims left behind. I won’t mend all family life, but I vow to love some children in ways completely new and regenerative to them. I may not be able to say I did everything I wanted to do when I die. But I will be able to say I wanted to do everything I did.”

 Matt Devenney

A brass shallow bowl: The bowl symbolizes “shared fruit.” The bowl will 

 have a constant water supply, which will quench the 

 thirst of the homeless. The bowl is to remain full at 

 all times, representing everlasting life. An empty 

 bowl would mean only loss and despair.

The board of Directors for the Homeless Shelter decided that Matt would have wanted the money spent on a monument to be put to better use directly helping those that he had committed and gave his life for. The Board thus voted to use the monies to expand and upgrade the facilities and services for the needy. All of us involved with this project agreed this was the appropriate honor for Matt Devenney.

All images are the property of Hollomon Architecture, P.A. / The Hollomon Group, Inc. All rights reserved.