Good deeds

This past Saturday I oversaw the cleaning of a neglected cemetery in my area. The cemetery isn't abandoned, but no family members remain in this part of Florida, so I volunteered to take care of it after watching it for the past year.

I first went to the cemetery in April 2010, and it looked like this:

Since I work with a group who keeps tabs on these sorts of burial grounds, I notified the leader about it's sad state. He contacted the man who was being paid to mow it and keep it clean, and he said he had just finished mowing it.

I didn't get back there again until this past January when it looked like this:

Basically the same as a year ago, just with the grass now dead from frost. The leader of our group had asked me to check it again as the family had "concerns." When I reported back, the family quickly asked if I would be willing to take care of it. Of course, I said yes. I got quotes on the price, and the family agreed to pay.

Last Saturday was clean-up day. Here's how it looks now:

I'm so proud of our work and feel so good about doing it. The family sent their thanks after getting the new photos. The whole atmosphere of the place changed and it felt like such a warm, welcoming place when we were done. The lawn guys we hired told me this was a great thing we were doing and that they didn't know of anyone else who would take this on, especially since I had no ties to the family. My dad and I are now going to pay the guys to come back every couple of weeks to keep it nice and neat. I plan to put flowers on the graves at some point, just to let those who are there know they are not forgotten. (By the way, the death dates range from 1840 to 197o, and they are all members of the same family. This used to be on their plantation and has since been swallowed up by a subdivision.

* This cemetery first appeared here in this post.