MITCHELL, S.D. - A local club is trying to raise $8,000 for the purchase of 500 flags to be displayed at a "Healing Field" in honor of child abuse victims and the 3,000 people who died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Doug Goehring, Exchange Club district president for North Dakota and South Dakota, said it would be one of the first such displays in the Midwest.

"I think it is significant that Mitchell could be the first place to have this in the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma or Arkansas," he said.

A flag company owner from Utah started a national "Healing Field" effort as a way to show the loss of life on Sept. 11, 2001, said Goehring.

Later, the national Exchange Club took on the project. The club also has a national program to assist child abuse victims and has expanded the program to honor military personnel serving in the war on terror.

Goehring said Mitchell Exchange Club has already raised about $4,000 and recently the Mitchell City Council agreed to donate $1,000 toward the effort.

Each flag costs $20.

Goehring said the local Exchange Club hopes to have flags purchased by April so they can be displayed during Child Abuse Awareness Month.

He also said the flags would be flown on other occasions, such as Memorial Day, Independence Day, Sept. 11 and Veterans Day.

A location for the flags is still to be determined, he said.

However, some donors have suggested flying the flags at Kippes Memorial Park south of the VFW Cemetery, said Goehring. The flags also would be lit at night.

Goehring said it was a moving experience to visit a "Healing Field" display at the courthouse in Dallas, Texas.

"It was really impressive walking among all those flags," he said.