SHAMOKIN - Volunteers are being sought to help in the upkeep of the historic Shamokin Cemetery.
Citizens for a Better Community - perhaps best known for raising funding for the Fourth of July fireworks display over the past several years - is looking for individuals, church groups and members of civic or social organizations to volunteer for its brand new Adopt-A-Plot program.
Volunteers will be asked to work two hours or so each month to mow grave sites and trim around headstones at the cemetery on Academy Hill. The first graveyard cleanup will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. April 20.
The help is badly needed, said Dave Donmoyer, a member of the cemetery's board of directors.
"It's definitely necessary," Donmoyer said. "We don't have enough money in the trust fund to pay people to work up there."
Shamokin Cemetery Co. was formed in 1850 and had its first burial in 1855, Donmoyer said. There are more than 16,000 grave sites, and one part-time caretaker.
The number of burials in the cemetery has slowed to a near halt, although there remain plenty of plots available. If the cemetery has four burials in a year of late, Donmoyer said "it's a good year."
CBC's Rich Jilinski and his girlfriend and fellow CBC volunteer, Kathleen Shevitski, had visited the grave site of his grandmother and while they cleaned up a bit, the idea for Adopt-A-Plot was had.
"A lot of the graves are more or less forgotten up there," Jilinski said. "It's becoming a forgotten place. It's too rich in history to leave it go."
Volunteers are asked to bring any of the following: gas-powered lawn mowers or weed trimmers, rakes, wheelbarrows, buckets and trash bags. If none of these items are available, volunteers can still show up to lend a hand; manpower is as important an asset as any. They can take on as little work or as much work as they want.
"Some (grave markers) are grown over. There's trees that need to be trimmed. There's high grass around some of the headstones," he said when describing some of the work needed to be completed.
Jilinski said the cemetery's maps will be reviewed to create a plan for the initial cleanup and those to follow in the months ahead.
Volunteers are asked to meet at the cemetery's entrance along High Street at 1 p.m. April 20. For more information, call after 4 p.m. Jilinski at 809-2848 or Shevitski at 898-1166. Call Dave Donmoyer at 648-3104 or Bill Millbrand at 847-3842 for more information on the cemetery.