Laura Brown and her children, Georgia and Boone, visited UTM on Thursday to show support for fundraising efforts towards the Brian Brown Memorial Greenway in honor of the late Brian Brown.

A group of students in David Belote's Leaders in Residence class have chosen to support the efforts of the Brian Brown Greenway as their community service project.

Guy Spence, Freshmen Ag-Business major, is chairing this project.

“We've made a goal to raise at least five hundred dollars,” states Spence. “Our efforts to raise money include having a bake sale in the stairwell of the Humanities building on November 21.”

The group is also taking charge with another project they call, “Paint the Town Green.”

“We will go around the city of Martin on the 25 and 26 of November and encourage people to buy a green bow for five dollars,” says Spence. “These bows could be placed on people's mailboxes to demonstrate their support for the greenway.”

The leadership class has seen the impact that Brian Brown has had on the community through documentary videos and now testimony from his wife, Laura.

Laura Brown says that she is very proud of the efforts being shown by the Leaders in Residence class.

"This group seems to be so dedicated and their hard work shows,” said Brown. “I am so excited about working with them to complete this goal. It means so much to me to see people involved in this.”

The first phase of this project consists of building a walking path from downtown Martin to the intersection near McDonalds.

According to David Belote, Assistant Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, the city of Martin needs to raise 80 thousand dollars to fulfill the requirement for a matching grant from the government of 320 thousand.

Spence says that the city is only $30,000 away from meeting its goal.

After Laura Brown supported the class for their efforts, her daughter Georgia asked that everyone go outside and play in the leaves. A few years ago, the people of UTM were following the energetic footsteps of her father Brian. Now like her father, Georgia is the one leading others on a quest to enjoy life and have fun.