Similar Organization, New Name: We Are Now the Keweenaw Green Burial Alliance As of April 2017, the Board of the Keweenaw Green Cemetery (Burial) Association has incorporated a new non-profit organization named the Keweenaw Green Burial Alliance. The old Keweenaw Green Cemetery Association still exists, but as 501(c)13 Non-profit Cemetery Corporation its intended purpose is 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 was necessary to create this new organization, the Keweenaw Green Burial Alliance. We are still a non-profit organization, and we are currently applying for 501(c)3 tax exempt status. The mission and work of our new organization will pick up where the old one left off; the only real changes are in our name, our underlying corporate structure, and, eventually, our specific category of tax-exempt status if we are successful with our 501(C)3 application.
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There were seven of us who participated in the Home Funeral workshop led by Merilynne Rush, an After Death Home Care Guide, who came to us from Ann Arbor. (Visit her website http://afterdeathhomecare.com/ ) The time we had together focused on a tradition with which most of us have very limited experience: caring for our loved ones’ bodies after they are deceased. The workshop was an opportunity for us to gain insight into how a home funeral can be a time of connection and healing, and how we might facilitate that for families. Here are some of the things we learned:
In particular we learned that death, as part of the life cycle, is not to be feared, but honored as a time of transition for the dying person, and for connection between them and the surviving loved ones. If you have questions about home funeral for yourself or for someone you love, you may contact us at [email protected]. photos by Michele Bourdieu copyright Keweenaw Now We are happy to announce that Merilynne Rush, who was the main speaker at our Green Burial/Home Funeral community forum last summer, has agreed to provide a local, introductory home funeral workshop for KGBA associates and other interested community members. This event will be a small, hands-on practicum and there are four slots still available on a first-come basis.
The workshop will be held on Saturday, June 25, 2016, from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and will include a potluck lunch (location to be communicated to confirmed participants the week before). The cost is $50 per person, with reduced rates available for those with tight budgets. If you are interested, please contact us at[email protected] to reserve one or more slots and/or request any further information you may need. This introductory workshop will include hands-on instruction in caring for a deceased person at home as well as in-depth discussion of Merilynne’s experiences, legal considerations, funeral director relations, participant concerns, and other factors affecting home funeral practices. We have also invited two local funeral directors (who have expressed support for home funerals) to join the group for lunch and discussion, and thus far at least one of them is planning to attend. For more information on home funerals and Merilynne Rush (including a much more comprehensive workshop she will be offering in Ann Arbor in November), please visit her website at http://afterdeathhomecare.com/. For further questions pertaining to this local workshop, please contact us at[email protected]. Sincerely, The Keweenaw Green Burial Association Dear Friend of the Keweenaw Green Burial Association (KGBA),
We are happy to spread the word that the Keweenaw now has a second green burial option available, this one at the Chassell Township Cemetery in Chassell. Chassell Township has also decided to allow winter burial (for green burial only), the first time this option has been available in our area for decades. Given the tight timelines involved with green burials and the challenges of our winter climate, this is a huge step forward for our community. The Chassell Green Burial Section is an area of their current cemetery that is specifically dedicated to green/natural burial and perpetual maintenance of those grounds as natural woodland forest. This section was plotted out in early December, and lots are currently for sale (reduced rates for Chassell Township residents). It is not a large area—there are only 40 plots total—but if they sell out they may consider creating an additional green section. Because the philosophy and maintenance of this section is new and their green/winter burial procedures are yet untested, Chassell Township did extensive work developing guidelines and rules governing the section and plots. We believe that most persons interested in green/natural burial will find the basic regulations satisfactory, including the following:
Finally, Chassell Township has notified all local funeral homes about their new green section and intention to reinstate winter burial procedures, and the KGBA is currently discussing related issues with our local funeral directors to identify essential aspects of pre-planning. Because planning ahead is essential for green burial, we will be communicating more about that important step of the process in this coming year. Sincerely, Your Board Members of the KGBA Jay Green, President & Treasurer Todd Van Valkenburg, Vice President Keren Tischler, Secretary John Slivon Sue Ellen Kingsley Candy Peterson Stephen Jukuri Jennifer Donovan This coming Wednesday, 2/24, 5:30pm at the First United Methodist Church in Hancock, the KGBA will be having an open discussion with Ron Antila, funeral director/owner of Jukuri Antila Funeral Home on green burial. The public is welcome to attend; come to listen or ask questions. The church is located at 401 W. Quincy St, Hancock next to Hancock City Hall. Plenty of parking on Quincy St., the two one way streets opposite of city hall, and the FirstMerit parking lot. If you have questions or comments please reply to this email or call Jay at 487-5411.
Jay Green, President Keweenaw Green Burial Association Dear Friend of the Keweenaw Green Burial Association,
Stephen Jukuri and Jay Green, KGBA board members, will be giving a talk at the Keweenaw Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (KUUF) forum this Sunday, January 10th, at 10:30am. KUUF is located at the BHK Head Start Building, 700 Park Avenue, Houghton, MI. They will provide an update on the past year's progress toward natural/green burial options on the Keweenaw, including the recent establishment of green burial sections in two of our local cemeteries. They will also discuss the KGBA's work toward natural/green burial as a case study in social change advocacy, drawing from some of the past year's lessons about practical considerations, social and political challenges, and maybe even a philosophical question or two. Also, the KGBA board will be meeting again on Monday, January 11th, at 5:30pm on the second floor of the Keweenaw Coop. If you are interested in learning what we are up to or would like to share your ideas about green or natural burials, please join us! Sincerely, The Keweenaw Green Burial Association Board Dear Friend of the Keweenaw Green Burial Association (KGBA),
In our recent survey, you indicated that you may be interested in joining or otherwise helping the KGBA. We would like to invite you to connect with us as we ramp up for another year of activity (we are most active in the fall, winter, and spring). If at all possible, please consider attending our next monthly meeting. We meet on the second Monday of each month, and our next one will be on Monday, November 9 at 5:30 p.m. in the Community Room (upstairs) of the Keweenaw Co-Op in Hancock. If you cannot attend our regular meetings but would still like to be active in our organization, please just respond to this email and one of us will contact you and set up a personal meeting to discuss how you can participate in one of our committees, projects, or work groups. Our past year was very busy, and we feel very encouraged by the progress that we are seeing. Two local cemeteries are currently in the process of developing green sections and our community is starting to seriously discuss natural burial practices. But we do have much more work to do. We can make good use of all the help we can get, in any way, shape, or form! Organizationally, we are especially in need of people interested in working with social media and communications, educational presentations, creative writing, networking within our community, developing and maintaining our community resource information, fundraising, and/or filling a few open board member slots. Thank you for your interest and support; we would love to have you join us as we work toward educating the public and establishing a full range of natural burial options within our community here on the Keweenaw Peninsula. Sincerely, The Board Members of the KGBA Thank you for attending the Home Funeral and Green Burial presentation at the Portage District Library on June 20th with Merilynne Rush and the Keweenaw Green Burial Association (KGBA). Merilynne's web site is http://afterdeathhomecare.com/.
As mentioned during the presentation, the KGBA is conducting a survey to better understand our community's interest and commitment to natural or green burials. This survey was available in paper form at this event. If you did not get the opportunity to complete this survey, please take a couple minutes to fill this online version. Click here for KGBA survey And please spread the word and share this link with others in our community. Thank you for your help! -- KGBA You can find us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/KeweenawGreenBurial Press Release for the Home Funeral and Green Burial Presentation by Merilynne Rush and the KGBA5/20/2015 Upcoming Community Events to Focus on Natural/Green Burial: Our Newest (and Oldest) Burial Practices
Hancock, Michigan – May 15, 2015 – As any follower of crime drama knows, it is far from easy to dispose of a body. With the earth’s human population now over seven billion (and counting), awareness is also growing about how large a toll the disposition of all those bodies will take on our planet. Human remains might seem to be an exception to the ecological principles of “reduce, reuse, recycle.” However, a growing number of people have decided that returning to traditional ways of “recycling” our bodies back into the earth is also the best option for the planet itself. One such local group, the Keweenaw Green Burial Association (KGBA), is encouraging community members to participate in two upcoming events focused on green burial practices...some entirely new, and some as old as humanity itself. “This is about the environmental impact of a choice that we will all face some day: what to do with our bodies once we are no longer using them,” said the aptly named Jay Green, President of the KGBA. “The burial practices that have become conventional in the past 100 years—preservation of the body with embalming fluids and burial in metal caskets and concrete vaults—are not environmentally sound due to their use of toxic chemicals, fossil fuels, and non-renewable materials.” In the first event, on June 18, the Green Film Series at Michigan Tech will screen “A Will for the Woods,” a documentary about Clark Wang, a musician and psychiatrist who was determined that his last performance would be a gift back to the planet. Viewers will witness Wang preparing for his own green burial and, in so doing, create that option for others in his community (7 p.m., G002 Hesterberg Hall, MTU Forestry Building). Two days later, on June 20, the KGBA will host a community forum facilitated by Michigan resident Merilynne Rush, a Natural Death Care Educator and board member of the Green Burial Council International (10 a.m. – noon, Portage Lake District Library in Houghton). Rush will take the audience through an examination of conventional funeral and burial practices, their environmental and social implications, and what green burial is and is not. Also included in the Community Forum will be discussion about the KGBA’s ongoing efforts to better inform the community and foster green burial practices on the Keweenaw Peninsula. “What we are finding is that once people have more information, a better understanding, and an opportunity to discuss more natural, green burial options, they begin to get more interested in ‘going out green,’” said Green of the KGBA. “For example, cremation is often perceived as having the least environmental impact among conventional burial practices and some people choose it because they believe it is the greenest option. However, even cremation has a significant carbon footprint, contributes to air pollution, and essentially wastes nutrients that can be recycled back into the earth. “Then, once you multiply a burial practice by seven billion, even for a less problematic practice like cremation, we’re looking at a real problem.” Likewise, at the June 20 Community Forum Rush will focus on common misconceptions and myths about death and burial, differences between law and common practices, “how to” advice for natural death care and burial, personal stories, and Q&A discussion. Rush will also discuss a closely related trend whereby people are once again practicing home funerals: family and friends caring for their deceased themselves, preparing the body for burial, and receiving visitors all in their own home instead of at a funeral home. Yet another new natural/green trend, said Keren Tischler, Secretary of the KGBA and President of the Keweenaw Land Trust, is toward establishing “conservation” cemeteries. “It has often been said that cemeteries are a ‘waste of land,’” she said, “but in fact conservation cemeteries are the exact opposite. They serve the dual purpose of restoring and/or preserving lands, in perpetuity, while also serving as a burial ground. Prairies, forests, and other ecologically important ecosystems can be permanently set aside in honor of those who lie buried beneath them. “It’s considered to be the ultimate gift back to the planet: instead of permanently expending financial and material resources, you use your burial as an opportunity to help set aside yet another piece of land for the health of the earth and future generations.” What’s driving these changes? While it may seem like “green” and “natural” practices would be most appealing to the upcoming future generations who are still quite far from death, a lot of interest appears to be coming from the Baby Boomer generation. “When you think about it, it makes sense,” said Carolyn Peterson, another member of the KGBA Board. “The Boomers have been burying their parents, they are facing the fact that they are next in line, and, in their usual fashion, they are questioning the practices of previous generations and they want more and different choices for themselves. This really is not much different than any other social change they have been the driving force behind.” Prior registration is not required for either event, and both are open to the public free of charge (donations always welcome). Support and funding for the June 20 Community Forum also comes from the Portage Lake District Library and the Keweenaw Co-Op’s Bring-a-Bag donation program. For more information, please contact the KGBA at [email protected]. |
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