GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Volunteers are working to clean up the grounds and headstones at a veterans cemetery in Grand Rapids for Earth Day.
The volunteers will be working all day at the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans Memorial Cemetery. Anyone is welcome to join them Monday.
The cemetery is located at 3000 Monroe Avenue NE in Grand Rapids and parking is available for volunteers at 3019 Coit Avenue NE.
The event began at 9:30 a.m. and runs throughout the day.
The cleanup is in honor of Earth Day and in preparation for Memorial Day.
Volunteer William Depew told 13 ON YOUR SIDE that he thought it's important to spend time taking care of people who took care of us.
"I had no idea that this was even a thing that people do until I saw it on TikTok, that people were cleaning headstones. And then it made me realize that it would be a really spiritually rewarding thing to spend time cleaning up after the people that you know, cared for us," Depew explained. "And it's actually kind of fun to be out here doing it. And it's a beautiful day. So it's a win-win, I think for everybody, and make this place, you know, clean for generations to come."
Veterans with the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) are working with the volunteers to clean the cemetery.
More than 4,000 veterans are buried at the cemetery.
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