Friends of Jacksonville's Historic Cemetery
ADOPT-A-BLOCK - WE NEED YOUR HELP
OUR NEWEST PROGRAM IS THREE YEARS OLD IN MARCH, 2024
Jacksonville's Historic Cemetery does not offer perpetual care. The care issue is further complicated when there are no surviving family members who are able to care for these graves. In addition to the City section, there are six other sections owned by various religious and fraternal organizations. While they are responsible for maintaining their sections of the cemetery, they face similar problems such as: no family involvement, no new membership, current members are no longer able to help, and organizations that are no longer active in Oregon. The latter is the case with two of the sections in the cemetery, both the Improved and the Independent Orders of Red Men, neither of which is active any longer in Oregon.
The City's resources are limited and stretched to cover our nearly 30-acre cemetery and do not include care or repair of individual graves, which remain the responsibility of the property owner. So, the Friends of Jacksonville's Historic Cemetery is appealing for volunteers to help care for these forgotten grave sites. The Jacksonville Boosters Club is co-sponsoring this new Adopt-A-Block Program and already have a number of their members signed up.
The Adopt-A-Block program is open to individuals, couples, groups, organizations, and businesses.
We are asking that you make a one-year commitment to look after and care for a cemetery block or blocks. Cemetery blocks are roughly 20 feet square with varying number of graves in each. At the end of the year, your commitment can be extended or modified at your request. If your situation changes and you are unable to continue caring for your adopted block(s), let us know so that we may reassign the block(s) to another volunteer.
We suggest making at least four visits per year, more if you choose, to check on and care for your adopted block(s). Maintenance includes, sweeping off head stones, raking and bagging debris and leaves, picking up fallen tree branches, weeding, pulling invasive plants, pruning bushes or hedges and keeping a well-cared-for appearance. Due to periodic state/county restrictions on the use of gasoline- and electric-powered tools such as weed-eaters and mowers during fire season, please use hand tools instead when restrictions are in force.. Anything beyond the routine maintenance of your adopted block(s) must be reviewed by the Friends of Jacksonville's Historic Cemetery and approved by the Cemetery Sexton and the Jacksonville Cemetery Committee. Additional information will be provided once your adopted block(s) have been have assigned. If you have a particular section of the cemetery or grave sites that you would like to work in, please let us know, and we will do our best to accommodate.
Please complete and submit the form below. In addition to your name and email address, we would appreciate a telephone contact number and a mailing address. If you have a preference for a section or grave site, you can note that in the message section as well. Thank you for your interest and we look forward to working with you.