ELKHART — Friends and family of Mark Miller are planning to have a ceremony in his memory this Saturday.

The memorial will take place at 1 p.m. at the Six Span Bridge, where Miller’s body was found. Sheila Miller, Mark Miller’s mother, said there will be prayers, poems and words of encouragement from close friends of the family.

Anyone attending is invited to bring decorative items to the memorial.

“I think it’s wonderful,” she said about the amount of support her family has gotten from Mark Miller’s friends.

Tracy Cohee, a close friend to Mark and Sheila Miller, is organizing a benefit for Mark Miller’s children. The benefit will take place Nov. 24 at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall, Post 88, at 1519 Bristol St.

Several donated items, including a television, will be raffled at the benefit, said Sheila Miller.

Miller’s body was found inside a barrel at the St. Joseph River, about 10 feet from the south bank, just west of the Six Span Bridge near C.R. 17 and S.R. 120. Sept. 20.

He was initially reported missing Sept. 7. His family said he was last seen that day at his tattoo shop in Dunlap, where he was living at the time.

The family is still struggling while they try to cope with their loss. Mark Miller’s sisters, April Gardner and Dawn Miller, as well as his brother, Charles Parker, have all had a hard time dealing with the situation, Sheila Miller Said.

“I don’t know that I’ve come to terms with any of it, I’m trying to help everybody else, and I don’t know if I’ve actually faced it yet, I wake up in the morning and I think ‘my son is not here’,” she said.