A Renewed Effort for Zion
by Ken Hall
In 1997 or
1988 Ken Moody, then head of the Mayor’s Citizens Service Center, called Hands
on
Hands on
Memphis was a nonprofit founded in 1993 to serve as a connecter for people
wishing to volunteer wish charitable organizations in need of volunteers. On average 20 to 30 projects were scheduled
each month for a team of volunteers, usually 5 to10 people. Volunteers team
would clean toys at LeBonheur, hold a reading session at Ronald McDonald House,
build wheelchairs ramps with MIFA, and much more under the guidance of a representative
from the agency. Aside from the monthly
projects, Hands on Memphis held an annual Servathon Day which engaged as many
as 700-1,000 volunteer working at 40-60 sites.
I served as
executive director of Hands on Memphis from 1997 to 2003, and had worked on a
number of project with Ken Moody prior to receiving the call about Zion. His call came shortly before the annual
Servathon so that we were able to field a team of volunteers. We connected with
Rev. Bill Smith who met us on the site
and gave an overview of the cemetery history. That first day was daunting as we
were armed with a few rakes, hoes, and shovels. A good deal of progress was
made around the area of the gates.
We again
visited the project for the next year’s Servathon and were disappoint to see
that no further efforts had followed up our work from the previous year; in
fact, every inch that we had cleared was grown over as if no work had been
done. This was clear note in line with
our normal model of engaging with a nonprofit organization for ongoing work.
There was discussion about abandoning the annual effort as futile. I decided to try to find away to create an
ongoing monthly project and would take on the responsibility myself of serving
as team leader. Having grown up on a farm, I was familiar with brush clearing
and tools such as swing blades, ditch or Kaiser blades, axes, and machetes.
Through Rev. Smith, I was able to learn about the role of the CME denomination
and contact Rev. Tyrone Davis. I served
as leader of a monthly project at the cemetery well beyond my tenure at Hands
on Memphis, probably a decade in total before entirely handing off the reins to
younger, abler folks. Rev. Davis and I
were together at almost every monthly (plus the additional group project dates)
for several years and became good friends.
During this
time, the Hands on Memphis calendar listed a Zion clean up day one Saturday
each
Early Hands
on Memphis in this endeavor began building an inventory of swing blades and
machetes though clearly , unlike paint rollers and trays which we might use at
a dozen agencies, these tools were only
useful at Zion. I wrote a grant proposal
specifically for Zion which obtained support from FedEx to pass through to
create the beginning of a tool inventory. With this we purchased a massive
self-propelled brush cutter which can cut a swatch three feet wide through the
most impenetrable brush. Also we obtained heavy duty, metal bladed weedeaters
as well as more hand tools. A second grant resulted in a 5’x 10’ trailer which
became out mobile tool shed. In 2004 the
new executive director of Hands on Memphis moved the organizations offices to
as smaller space with much less room for tool storage. For a couple of years
the Zion tool trailer was stored in my back yard – making my appearance at the
regular cemetery
In 2006 Hands on Memphis ceased to exist as a
separate entity, merging into Volunteer Mid-South.
The cemetery
board has done a remarkable job in the past few years
The role
that Hands on Memphis played was to connect the cemetery project to a larger
community during a time of transition and by continual activity create
awareness in the eyes of the general public.
We were able to introduce hundreds of individual volunteers as well as
corporate, congregational, and organizational volunteers to the cemetery.
Between the planning done in the 1980s by Ron Walter, Ritchie Smith, and other
to the nearly pristine state today, Hands on Memphis bridged
I would be
remiss if I did not mention some of these –
- · Idlewild Presbyterian Church who housed volunteers from Kent State for bi-annual work weeks in the cemetery.
- Dr. Christine McVay of Kent State who brought students down for a week of hard work, twice a year for several years.
- · Fellowship Bible Church which adopted an acre for a year.
- · John Carroll, first with Fellowship and then with Choose901, who brought dozens of college groups from all over the US to Zion.
- · Rhodes College which has helped with everything from student volunteers to a web site to hosting the annual dinner.
- · George Davis, a committed young man from the neighborhood who was a faithful volunteer until his untimely death.
- · Gus Mealor who brought his fellow medical school out of a regular basis until he residency transfer took him out of Memphis.
- · Memphis City Beautiful, FedEx, BellSouth (now AT&T), Carnival Memphis, MUS, BridgeBuilders, and many , many more.
The most
important lesson of Zion to me is how a problem, in this case blight, can bring
diverse people together in common cause.
