September 27, 2024 Submitted by Caroline MacDonald and Sydney Schultz
Former Hingham Middle School and now Hingham High School students, Caroline MacDonald and Sydney Schultz, wanted to help a cemetery forgotten while earning their Girl Scout Silver Award, the highest award a Girl Scout Cadette can earn. To earn a Silver Award, a girl scout is required to develop a plan to improve her community and lead the project through execution.
The first phase of the Silver Award project is for the girls to determine a “Take Action” project for which they have interest and passion. During this time, Caroline’s grandmother and grandfather, who was a US Marine, passed away. Both of her grandparents had a special love for their country and supported veteran causes. This prompted the girls to ask questions – Who takes care of the graves of veterans in non-military cemeteries? What if the veterans have no living family or loved ones? What if the family or loved ones are not able to care for the graves? What happens then? The girls decided to focus on the cleanup and maintenance of veteran graves, as a way to pay their respects to the veterans and keep their memory alive. In addition to veterans, they also wanted to clean other graves that have been neglected.
The girls set out to research and make inquiries in their community about cemeteries and veterans services in Hingham. They contacted the Town Clerk, Hingham Veterans Services, churches, and representatives from the cemeteries and graveyards in Hingham. They then visited the town cemeteries and were pleased to see that the cemeteries and graveyards were well maintained and did not need their help. Sydney and her family then suggested Avon Cemetery, as Sydney’s grandparents and many other family members are buried there. The girls visited the cemetery and learned that it had been neglected over the years. Sydney and Caroline contacted Avon Town Hall and asked about the ownership of the cemetery. Town Hall did not know who was running the cemetery, but they provided a name of a volunteer, Mohammad “Akee” Parwaz. The girls met with Akee to hear his story and to walk through the cemetery together. At first glance, the cemetery looks nice enough, but up close, the girls noticed trash, debris and overgrown grass. The overgrown grass, Akee explained, is a serious problem and some of the grass is very deep. Many of the veteran graves do not have headstones. Rather, they have grave markers or plagues that are set flush to the ground. Over time, the grass and weeds have completely buried the grave markers. It’s at the point where you have to guess where gravestones are and start digging to reveal the stone.
Akee explained that the previous owner of the cemetery passed away and since then, no one appears to be maintaining the cemetery. Akee’s parents are buried at Avon cemetery, and he wants their final resting place to be peaceful and beautiful. He is an active volunteer at the cemetery and tries to do as much as he can to maintain the landscaping and general upkeep. He was delighted to find out that the girls wanted to take the cemetery on as their project. Caroline and Sydney had a goal to unearth, weed and clean 101 graves stones. And so, they set off to work! Sydney and Caroline (along with their families – the girls cannot drive, and they need their parents to drive them to Avon) worked at the Cemetery from May to September 2024. Except for a weedwhacker for a few days, the girls had minimal tools. They unearthed most of the stones with small hand garden trowels and, in early September, they reached their goal of 101 gravestones! The girls were thrilled they made their goal but even happier that they made a difference to the families of veterans. The girls also unearthed and cleaned some non- veteran graves. One day, the girls noticed a family plot in which the parents were buried but the parents’ grave markers were completely buried by overgrown grass. After looking at the family headstone, Caroline and Sydney realized that the daughter would be placed there soon. The girls unearthed the parent grave markers and then weeded and cleaned the family headstone. Knowing that the family and loved ones would be appreciative that someone cared to maintain their family graves, made the girls feel fulfilled.
After Sydney and Caroline reached their goal of unearthing 101 graves, they wanted to create awareness and ensure that their project had sustainability. Akee introduced Caroline and Sydney to Selectman Jason “Jay” Suzor, who is also an active volunteer at the cemetery and has been working to build awareness of the cemetery’s needs to the Avon community. Sydney and Caroline also reached out to Avon Middle High School (AMHS) and shared their story and project. They explained how the cemetery needs volunteers to regularly maintain the grounds and that a fall clean-up, a spring clean-up and a summer clean-up over 3 days in the summer would make a significant difference. They asked if AMHS would be interested in including the cemetery in their panel of volunteer options for AMHS seniors. The girls connected AMHS with Akee and with Selectman Suzor and are hopeful that the Avon community will work together to improve and support Avon Cemetery. Caroline and Sydney are proud of the work done at Avon Cemetery. They sum up their project by saying, “This project was created because we care about our veterans. Veterans have dedicated their lives to our country and to protecting our freedoms, liberties and values. They deserve our respect and gratitude. One way that we can pay tribute to our veterans is to ensure that they have a clearly marked, clean and well-maintained grave so that the community can keep their memory alive. We also learned that our community is not limited to our town. Community extends beyond our town, and we all have the ability to make an impact. We were able to connect AMHS with Akee and with Selectman Suzor so that this project could be sustainable for years to come…which makes us feel great.”
Caroline, Sydney and other local girl scouts’ accomplishments will be recognized at the Hingham Girl Scouts Annual Court of Awards. Location is TBD but the award ceremony will be in June 2025.
