Volunteers Needed in Bemidji for Greenwood Cemetery Storm Cleanup

With the miles and miles of wreckage from the June 21 wind storm that hit northern Minnesota, Bemidji’s Greenwood Cemetery was no exception to receiving major damage. Some graves have stood strong for more than a century, but 100-plus mph winds still blew them to the ground.

Volunteers have been coming in daily to clean up the debris, and while a lot has been done, Greenwood started off with a lot of trees and graves down. Several of the biggest trees can’t be removed yet as they’ve been bought by a lumber mill, but the rest of the fallen trees and brush are free to be cleared.

A group of Bemidji citizens is gathering together this coming weekend in an effort to restore the cemetery to how it used to be.

“I think it’s like dignity, that families don’t need to come here and see a tombstone that’s stuck in the roots of the trees and the damage done,” explained cleanup organizer Steve Sassano on why the work is important. “We need people with chainsaws, Bobcats, rakes, or just their hands because we have to drag the brush away so we can get each section kind of squared away.”

The cleanup on Saturday, August 16 will begin at 9:30 a.m.. and last all day. It’s open to anyone, and any tools that people have are welcomed. And although it’s an organized group that’s organizing Saturday’s work, Greenwood Cemetery is still open any day of the week for volunteer cleanup.