Our VisionThe Keweenaw Peninsula will be a community that is fully knowledgeable about green burial and has a full range of burial options and funeral practices available throughout the year.
Our MissionThe Keweenaw Green Burial Alliance provides education and encouragement for green/natural burial options and a range of funeral choices.
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KGBA History
The Keweenaw Green Burial Alliance is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that was formed in April of 2017 to continue the work of the Keweenaw Green Cemetery Association (also know as the Keweenaw Green Burial Association).
The original Keweenaw Green Cemetery Association still exists, but as a 501(c)13 Non-profit Cemetery Corporation its intended purpose was to develop and operate a green cemetery. Given the increasing desire to focus on public education and general encouragement for green burial, Board members decided that it would be important to create a new organization, the Keweenaw Green Burial Alliance. When this Alliance was formed, most of the same people stayed involved. In that sense, it is fair to say that we have a longer history: the history of green burial in the Keweenaw and the people who started the original Cemetery Association to make it a reality. That history is as follows: While green cemeteries were becoming popular in various parts of the country, there were none in the U.P. as of 2004. The idea of a green cemetery in the Keweenaw originated during meetings of the Copper Country Funeral Consumers Alliance. Vern Simula, a member of the Alliance, volunteered to explore the idea. In 2006, while at a Friends of the Land of Keweenaw (FOLK) meeting, Vern mentioned the idea to Keren Tischler. Keren then volunteered to work on the project with Vern. Later, in a meeting with Ray Weglars, then a coordinator and nurse with the Keweenaw Home Hospice Program, Ray provided suggestions of people who might be interested in the green burial concept, namely John and Jane Griffith who managed the North Woods Conservancy. The Griffiths were keenly interested and offered to take the idea to their board. The Griffiths proposed the use of 80 acres of land within the North Woods Conservatory property for a conservation cemetery, a particular kind of green cemetery that uses its status as a cemetery to conserve and protect a piece of land in its wild form in perpetuity. Another site by another party near the Pilgrim River was also offered and examined as a possibility. With property for a green cemetery now available, the idea of establishing a green cemetery in the Keweenaw seemed close to becoming a reality. In 2006 an informal group was formed to plan the project. The initial group consisted of Jay Green, Jane Casper, Keren Tischler, Candy Peterson, and Vern Simula. Later, Pat Fisher and Sundra Moyyad would join the group. The primary goal of the working group was to recruit more members and to incorporate. A funding mechanism was established in 2007 with the Keweenaw Community Foundation. That same year the Keweenaw Green Cemetery Association (KGCA) incorporated as a Michigan not-for-profit corporation. By the end of November 2008, a nine member board had been elected, a joint meeting with the KGCA board and the North Woods Conservancy board had taken place, bylaws had been adopted by the KGCA board and the organization's tax exempt 501(c) (13) status had been approved. In December of 2008 the KGCA suffered a major blow when the Michigan Legislature proposed to raise the cemetery endowment fee from $25,000 to $150,000 and finally established the fee at $50,000, a sum, that to the fledgling KGCA organization, was unattainable. This fee was meant to provide maintenance of the cemetery in perpetuity. Several grant requests to help raise the necessary funds were unsuccessful. It became apparent that a new approach was necessary. This new approach was to re-establish contact with local existing cemeteries with the hope of convincing them of the benefits of having a green cemetery section. Instead of managing a green cemetery, KGCA would become a green cemetery educational and advocacy organization while still working toward the original idea of developing a conservation cemetery. In 2011 the KGCA modified its mission statement: The Keweenaw Green Cemetery Association aims to provide green burial and conservation cemetery options in the Keweenaw Peninsula. The organization's name was changed to Keweenaw Green Burial Association (KGBA) to reflect the new focus of the organization. In 2012, Jay Green was elected president. By 2013, Jay and John Slivon had visited with and made a presentation to the City of Hancock Cemetery Board (Lakeside Cemetery) and had made their first presentation to the Portage Township Board (Forest Hill Cemetery, next to MTU) about considering green burial options at those respective cemeteries. The Hancock Cemetery board expressed little interest while the Portage Township Board did show some initial interest thanks to John Ollila, one of their members. Mr. Ollila subsequently became interested in the conservation cemetery concept and offered KGBA land for that purpose. Following several more meetings with the Portage Township Board, in August of 2015 the Portage Township Board approved an ordinance permitting green burials in a designated green burial section of their Forest Hill Cemetery and waived the vault rule for the entire cemetery. At about the same time, Jay and new KGBA board member Stephen Jukuri met with Joe Youngman of the Chassell Township Department of Public Works to discuss green burial options in the Chassell Township cemetery. In late 2015 Chassell Township designated a section of their cemetery for green burial and included winter burial as an additional feature (winter burial in the Keweenaw has always been very difficult because of the heavy snow). By spring of 2016 almost half of the initial 40 lots for green burial in the Chassell cemetery had been sold, and by spring of 2018 that original green area was sold out. Chassell continues to add new green burial areas to keep pace with demand. In the fall of 2016, the first "modern" green burial on the Keweenaw took place at the Chassell Cemetery. The next two green burials were conducted in the first half of 2018 (also in Chassell). Green/natural burial is now "for real," and the newly incorporated Alliance remains dedicated to educating the public about their options and supporting the continuation and expansion of green/natural burial throughout the Keweenaw and surrounding areas. |