A $2,000 donation from the Purple Heart Society — a local grassroots teen initiative — has brought the Delray Beach-based Disabled Veterans' LIFE Memorial Foundation closer to its goal.

Groundbreaking for the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial is scheduled for later this year in Washington, D.C.

"It is the only memorial in Washington dedicated to the living," said Rick Fenstermacher, the foundation's chief operating officer.

The Purple Heart Society is composed of a group of high school seniors (and one graduate) from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland and Suncoast Community High School in Riviera Beach.

Members are Elizabeth Blasi and her brother, Brian Blasi (co-founders), Rachel Relkin, Jennifer Gonwa, Kirsten Rangel, Connie Deng, Daniella Cordero, Katie Robb, Taylor Curry and Samantha Belavin.

The group had several fundraising efforts, including crafting and selling purple crystal heart bracelets and a raffle for a purple heart necklace.

"We distributed more than 10,000 fliers about the memorial [at a Coconut Creek festival]," said Elizabeth Blasi, 18, a senior at Stoneman Douglas. "We've been working with the foundation for the past two years."

This was the first group of youngsters who demonstrated such strong support for the project, Fenstermacher is.

"Their schools have a community service program, and on five or six different occasions, they came to our office to help with mailings and other projects for the foundation," he said. "… And I think Elizabeth has plans to continue at college developing support for the memorial and will probably use social media to promote interest in the project."

Elizabeth Blasi said she learned about the memorial and the foundation from her brother, a Stoneman Douglas graduate.

"He started a booth at the Butterfly Festival in Coconut Creek to raise awareness and funds for the memorial," she said.

Brian Blasi raised $500 through donations and by selling American flags for $50 that were flown over the Capitol in honor of those who bought them, she said.

"When [foundation members] were explaining to us about the memorial and how no one really cared — about how many servicemen came back from the war without arms and legs — it makes you feel so grateful toward them," she said. "They fought for us and came back without body parts and with post-traumatic stress disorder.

"I felt like kids don't really care. But the number of kids who got involved [with the memorial] was very surprising to me."

For more information on the memorial, visit http://www.avdlm.org. To find out more about the Purple Heart Society, visit http://www.purpleheartsociety.com.