I really am not ghoulish, but I have to share another post about the historic Congressional Cemetery and its amazing volunteers. Earlier this week I wrote about movie night at the cemetery, but that is only one of the many things that the volunteers at the Congressional Cemetery do. You might ask why a cemetery needs volunteers. After all, how much activity do the residents actually need? Good question.
Congressional Cemetery is a 35 acre historic burial ground located on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, near the RFK Stadium, the previous home to the Washington Redskins. Originally known as the Washington Parish Burial Ground, the cemetery became the first truly national burial ground as Congress bought grave sites, buried noted civil servants including members of Congress, Supreme Court Justices, and Cabinet members. The Public Vault was frequently used as a temporary resting place for famous people, including several Presidents and a first lady on their way to their final burial locations in their home states. There are over 67,000 burials at Congressional are scores of noteworthy citizens who left their mark on the city and the nation. Site are still available for sale to anyone that may be interested in joining these intriguing individuals.
Even though there are still sites available for burial, very few people have been buried there for a number of years. The endowment for the maintenance of the cemetery could not keep pace with the current costs. The cemetery was essentially abandoned, unmowed, and home to drug users, drug deals, and homeless people - by 1990, the cemetery looked like a drug war zone.
Then a group of dog walkers banded together to start walking in the cemetery. The morning dog walkers took responsibility for cleaning up the hypodermic needles that appeared every morning. Around 2001or 2002, people started paying dues to join a neighborhood organization as more people became interested in using the cemetery to walk their dogs.
The K9 Corps became an official organization of the preservation association in 2007, complete with a board of directors, committees and the like - an status as a 501(c)(3). The grounds are well groomed and many of the roads and paths within have been paved or upgraded during the past few years.
The dog-walking dues have become an integral part of the organization's budget. The membership fee is a $200 tax-deductible donation per family and a $50 per dog fee, with a maximum of three dogs per family. Dog owners are asked to volunteer at least 12 hours per year. Among the duties of a volunteer, in addition to picking weeds and clearing trash, is policing to make sure nonmember dogs don’t use the grounds.
Each year, members are required to undergo an orientation session to make sure they follow the rules and understand, among other things, the historical significance of the cemetery and how integral their efforts are to its preservation. Just to make everyone feel better - dog toys are not allowed. No one throws tennis balls to their dogs while they are walking in the cemetery.
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