The Magnolia Cemetery Beautification and Improvement project is calling on Meridian residents and volunteers to take part in a community workday helping clean up the cemetery grounds.
In a news release, Tracey Braddock Jones, chairperson for the project, said the workday will run from 8:30 a.m. to noon on Saturday, May 4. In the event of bad weather, the following Saturday, May 11, will be used instead.
During the workday, volunteers will be tasked with picking up trash, trimming weeds, raking, cleaning curbs and gutters and wiping down dirty headstones. Groups are welcome to chose an area of the cemetery they would like to work in or have organizers select an area appropriate for the group’s size, Jones said.
“We are asking volunteers to sign up in advance,” she said in the news release. “Families or community groups can simple let us know how many volunteers they have, and they can either choose a section of cemetery they would like to work in or we can assign them a section that is right sized for their group.”
The Magnolia Cemetery Beautification and Improvement Project was founded in 2023 to help maintain the 125-year-old cemetery that is home to more than 16,000 former Meridianites. Among those buried on the cemetery grounds are longtime Congressman G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery, singer-songwriter Paul Davis and the Key Brothers, whose 27-day continuous flight set a world record and pioneered aerial refueling technology.
Following the community cleanup day, Jones said the project is asking groups of volunteers to agree to cleaning their section of the cemetery at least two more times over the next year. When the cleaning takes place is up to the individual groups to decide, but ideally sections will be cleaned around Thanksgiving and again before Easter in 2025.
For more information about the cleanup, questions or to sign up as a volunteer, contact jones at tjones@magnoliameridian.com
To learn more about the Magnolia Cemetery Beautification and Improvement Project visit magnoliameridian.com.