Volunteers tackle overgrown cemetery

Tag : spent catalyst

When Artis Solomon tried to visit her father's grave recently, shewas disturbed by what she saw at Holt Cemetery.
Yellowed grass had grown more than 6 feet high in some areas,obscuring most of the tombstones.
The grass was so high that Solomon couldn't find the grave of herfather, Oscar Solomon, who was buried in the city-owned cemeteryoff of City Park Avenue in 1977.
So Solomon decided to take action. She called numerousorganizations to find people who could help clean up Holt, whichhas suffered years of chronic neglect. Solomon's calls finally ledher to Beacon of Hope, a Lakeview grass-roots organizationdedicated to restoring neighborhoods hard-hit by Hurricane Katrina.
Her phone call became the catalyst for a project that broughtalmost 200 volunteers to Holt, traditionally a burial place forfamilies of limited financial means, on Thursday and Friday.
Solomon remembers her father as a giving man. When a shoe companyhe worked for went out of business and gave him some of itsremaining shoes, he lined up extra pairs on his porch for hisneighbors.
"People would try and buy them from him, but he said 'Take it, takeit. I'm not selling them!' " Solomon said.
So when Solomon spent her 65th birthday Thursday working with theother volunteers, she was reminded of the values her father passedon to her.
"He would be here. He was always trying to help out," she said asshe stood in the cemetery, rake in hand.
She is inspired by the volunteers. "They are motivating me, and itshould be motivating the city to take more action," she said.
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