Volunteers put in hours of hard work on November 9 at the Manchester Cemetery, taking part in an event called “Raising Our Veterans”. (Photo provided)
Volunteers from Venture Productions were part of the “Raising Our Veterans” event last Saturday at the Manchester Cemetery. (Photo provided)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
Normally you will see Cody Carter and his Code Red Lawn and Landscaping mowing and keeping the Manchester Cemetery in tip top condition. But on Saturday, November 9, Carter and the community were back at the cemetery for a different reason. The task was to improve the look of the cemetery as Carter organized an event that was deemed “Raising Our Veterans”, something that has been a year in the making.
“Over time headstones sink or become unlevel and it just bothered me and some of my crew.” Carter explained. “Jason Lucas was helping one day last year and asked, ‘How can we fix it?’ I talked to the trustees and then received guidance from their attorneys and everything was set in motion.”
“We dug up the stones and installed gravel to level up and placed them about ground level and called it Raising Our Veterans. We planned on raising the stones of 10 veterans and ended up doing 26!”
The task could not have been completed without many helping hands. A lengthy list of individuals and businesses donated items such as buckets, soap, rags, shovels, rakes, pry bars, wheelbarrows and straps, while McCarty Excavating donated five tons of gravel. Lunch for all the volunteers was provided by S & G Pizza, Bottoms Up, Sammie’s Pizza and Snappy’s in West Union.
“The community was awesome volunteering to help.” said Carter. “Multiple businesses and organizations, teams and individuals. We also had a cleaning crew to wipe off and scrub stones and replaced flags of our veterans.”
Carter also gave a special thanks to the folks at Holsinger’s Monument.
“A huge thank you to Holsinger’s Monument , Patty Richmond Holsinger and Alan Holsinger for all of their help and hard work,” added Carter. “They were on board and all in from the first conversation about it. They helped coordinate, set up, dig the stones, spread the word and make it all happen.”
