Hello from Olivewood Cemetery!

...And welcome to the inaugural issue of our new newsletter, mileStones. We'll be using this newsletter as a means of letting our supporters know what we've been doing in the previous few months, and what is on our horizon, so that you know how you can help.

This past quarter, we have pushed Olivewood's progress forward on many fronts. We have gotten Houston engineers involved on our Engineering Committee, we have brought on board an event planner for our Fundraising Committee. Our Public Relations Committee has a new name, and our Volunteers Committee has organized a number of Eagle Scout projects.

Though getting and keeping Olivewood cleared of overgrowth is one of our primary missions and one for which we are always grateful for your help, there are many, many other ways you can be involved with Olivewood. Please read about what we've been doing and volunteer to join a committee or two!

Committee Reports

In future newsletters we will be using this space to tell you what our committees have been doing in the previous quarter. For this newsletter, however, we are going to tell you a little bit about what our committees do so you can see if you'd be interested in joining. We're listing the next meeting times of each, so if you are interested, you can come join us, or send an email to info@descendantsofolivewood.org to ask for more information. More information about the projects the Descendants of Olivewood have planned can be found on our website.

Landscaping/Restoration - The Landscaping and Restoration Committee is responsible for maintaining the grounds, creating and working on the cemetery master plan, ensuring the plans stay within legal guidelines, and ensuring that the volunteers follow those plans as they help clean up the grounds. They are also responsible for the historical restoration of damaged monuments and plots.
Next meeting: 4/16, 12:30pm @ Cemetery

History - The mission of the History Committee is to acquire deeds related to the cemetery, document graves and create a database along with GPS maps and grids, create bios of interments, interview descendants of those interred, create curriculum for area schools, acquire historic photos, maps and any other documents related to the cemetery, create adopt-a-plot guidelines, perform archaeology surveys, work with area churches and funeral homes to acquire historical documents, and designate “Special Plots”. We are currently looking for leadership positions for this committee.
Next meeting: TBD

Public Relations - The purpose of the Public Relations committee is to get the word out about Olivewood Cemetery and the doings of the Descendants of Olivewood. This is a new committee and we are looking for anyone to help, but particularly people with PR backgrounds, or familiarity with website maintenance, and Web 2.0 tools like Facebook, Twitter, and email newsletters like this one.
Next meeting: 4/8, 6:30pm @ Antidote on Studemont and 8th in the Heights.

Fundraising - One of the most important committees we have, we are always looking for more help. The fundraising committee is responsible for everything from the Penny Drive at the Halloween Event, to the Kroger Card neighborhood connection, to writing grant proposals to large charitable foundations.
Next meeting: 4/22, 6:30pm @ Denny's at 290 and 34th

Security - Security is our number one concern as we clean more of the cemetery, expose more fragile headstones, and create more public awareness of this historic landmark. We must put up a fence to prevent vandals from doing further harm to the irreplaceable statuary on the grounds. The Security Committee is in charge of the fence project, as well as working with neighbors and the city to ensure that the cemetery is protected.
Next meeting: TBD

Engineering - Olivewood faces a number of engineering challenges, most notably the remediation of destructive erosion along the banks of the bayou. We have graves at risk that must be stabilized or moved.that is putting a number of graves at risk.
Next meeting: 4/10, 1pm @ Hickory Hollow at Heights Blvd and Center St.

Volunteers - The purpose of the Volunteers Committee is to organize and keep track of clean up days, volunteer groups, Eagle Scout projects, and to make sure that all the tools and waste bins are available, and to point clean up volunteers to other committees if they want to volunteer in other ways.
Next meeting: TBD

Thanks to our Volunteers and Donors

We would like to thank all our volunteer groups who have been out to help clean the cemetery this year so far:

We would also like to thank all our donors who have contributed to our recent Stump Grinding push for which we had a generous anonymous matching donor, as well as other generous contributors:

Ways to Give

Donate with Paypal!
Visit our Store!
Buy at Amazon through our web site!
Sign up with Kroger's Neighbor to Neighbor program!

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

If you have:

Email to let us know how you can help.

Find us on Facebook.