Published: October 09, 2009 11:44 pm      

Greenwood Memorial Park still needs help

Significant progress was made over the summer in an effort to rejuvenate Greenwood Memorial Park in Beckley, but Doris Boyden-McCormick, president of Cemetery Awareness Restoration Edification, says additional community support is needed.

“Our funds are extremely low and we need help,” she said.

CARE is working to spruce up the historically black cemetery.

During the summer months, Boyden-McCormick said, in addition to general upkeep, including cleaning of the fence line, basic lawn care and preparation of an exit road, 750 sunken graves were filled in.

“We had a gentleman come over and work very diligently filling in the graves,” she said.

Although those accomplishments are significant, Boyden-McCormick says, the work that remains is tremendous and many more graves need filled and lawn care efforts are ongoing.

The goal of the nonprofit organization is to raise $250,000. So far, Boyden-McCormick says, $21,000 has been raised.

With the cost of dirt, straw and grass feed for the fill-ins, as well paying for that labor and for a company to mow the 11.5-acre cemetery, she says, that money is all but gone.

“We want to ask the community, businesses, organizations and other individuals if they would consider making a donation to the cemetery,” she said. “If people don’t want to donate cash, they can contribute their services or donate equipment.

“Any of that would be wonderful for us,” she said, adding larger lawn care equipment as well as seed, dirt and grass would be greatly appreciated.

Greenwood has served as a cemetery since Dr. Norman Collins, a Beckley dentist, purchased it from Beaver Coal Co. in 1928.

Boyden-McCormick says the cemetery has several thousand graves and people continue to be buried there every day.

Because it is not a perpetual care cemetery, however, it lies with family members and the community to take care of their loved ones’ final resting places, she says.

“I just feel that our loved ones’ final resting place should be a place that is beautiful,” she said. “I think they deserve that and that’s why we want it (Greenwood) to be top-notch.”

Boyden-McCormick says that although Greenwood looks much better than it did before CARE was formed, without continued support, that improvement won’t last.

“We want to restore it, but after that we need to continue to keep it that way,” she said. “We need money so we can continue with what we’re doing. If we don’t have the funds, it’s going to go back looking just as it was before.”

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Anyone interested in making a donation can do so by sending a check made payable to CARE at P.O. Box 3011, East Beckley Station, Beckley, WV 25801.

For information on how to donate services or equipment, contact Boyden-McCormick at 304-673-2894.

— E-mail: mjames@register-herald.com