More than eight months ago, Harker Heights resident Hiram Dixon had an idea.

He sat down and sketched out on a paper napkin the beginnings of what eventually will become the Fort Hood Living Memorial Garden.

As the one year anniversary of the Nov. 5 shooting at Fort Hood approaches, that idea is a little closer to becoming reality.

Dixon and his employer, the fraternal organization SPJST , first presented the idea for the memorial back in February.

Since then, a location for the garden has been decided along with sketches of what the memorial will look like.

"We're just about at the point now where we'd like to communicate this to any organization, man, woman, boy or girl who would like to help out with the project," spokesperson for the Fort Hood Living Memorial Garden Brian Vanicek said.

According to Vanicek, the group has collected a little more than $70,000 in donations so far. He estimated they will need $500,000 to build and maintain the memorial into the future.

"There's never been a question on whether or not a memorial needs to be built," Vanicek said. "The questions that were out there was, where will it be located [and] what it will be looking like? Those items have been defined, and [now] we're ready to move forward."

The memorial will feature 13 columns to represent those who were killed on November 5.

Each column will also have a place for family members to place mementos or items to represent their loved ones.

"Working to complete the project, the memorial, is something we can all pull together and make a positive difference with," Vanicek said.

The memorial will be located next to the Killeen Civic and Conference Center.

On the one year anniversary of the shooting, the group will officially unveil plans for the memorial to the public.

"A lot of folks have stepped up to the plate saying, ‘What can we do to bring some light to this dark situation?’" Vanicek said.