BALTIMORE — On Friday, Naja Aurtry decided to host a community clean-up a the Mount Zion Cemetery, a place were she and others have loved ones who are buried.
But because no one is properly maintaining the property, a lot of family members are having a hard time visiting their loved ones.
She said for over year, she didn't know the right place where her brother was laid to rest.
"After he died, when we got his tombstone, I wasn't able to find his body to put it down there, and it made me sad. And then I realized that the cemetery just wasn't being taken care of at all, and then it made me realize that a lot of people really felt the same way I did," Aurtry said.
Aurtry said she wanted to use this weekend to honor the people who are buried.
"It doesn't feel good already that your loved one is gone, but then you see the final place that they gotta lay and you see that no one cares about it," Aurtry expressed.
And she isn't the only one feeling this way.
"It's important for me because I have a loved one out here, and then also this community has suffered long enough," said Shayna Alderman, a volunteer.
But the women say they are proud so many in the community took time out of their Friday evening to help.
"I can't even put it into words. That's all I can say, that I'm so grateful for the outpouring of love from the local businesses, the communities, and the people from different states reached out to us," Alderman said.
Alderman says she hopes moving forward there can be additional help, beyond just cleaning.
"I solved my problem. I'm just trying to be here to help, you know, solve a couple of other people's. We're trying to help them find their family members plots as well, so if they have their name, their birthday, and their burial days, we can help them," Aurtry said.
And this weekend's clean-up isn't the only one.
Alderman said this is just the start of them working to maintain the cemetery as much they can until they can find a permanent solution.
"But after tomorrow, we'll be planning on the next weeks because in order to keep the grass this low or lower, this has to be done, maintained every 2 to 3 weeks," said Alderman.
The second part of the clean-up is happening this Saturday, April 19, at 3:00 pm.
When the sun goes down, they will be hold a candlelight vigil.
