Jason Bowns is fundraising
Support Plainfield Grave Guardians' 2024-2025 Goals
We, the Plainfield Grave Guardians Association, formally established ourselves as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in December 2020 thanks in large part to the community's support!
STRATEGIC GOALS FOR FALL-2024-FALL 2025
1) Assisting National Register process in any way needed
2) Old Plainfield Burial Ground front entrance redesign and repair
3) Complete design and launch of Plainfield Grave Guardians website
4) Continue genealogical website regarding burials and descendants
5) Coordinate with Gallup Cemetery owner heirs to rectify outdated deed
6) Continue grant-writing activities to raise funds for wider scale stone repairs
7) Continue to build community partnerships with a focus on history education
Four years after our founding in 2020, we've organized this current GoFundMe campaign (starting in November 2024) which will help to replenish our dwindling general fund account and allow us to meet ongoing financial obligations including website maintenance and design fees, grave marker repair supplies, and planning future onsite community events.
Our GoFundMe campaign back then empowered us to meet filing fee deadlines as well as purchasing supplies and equipment. With that foundation, we have:
PLAINFIELD GRAVE GUARDIANS CLEANUP EVENT
- Organized volunteer efforts to do direct grave marker resetting and repairs, while also sponsoring several trainings open to the community.
Plainfield Grave Guardians Partner Event
- We collaborated with Plainfield High School history teachers to bring students to Old Plainfield Burial Ground (the official name of this site according to town records, none of which refer to it as "Old Plainfield Cemetery)
- We have conducted genealogical research thanks to our partners from the local Daughters of the American Revolution chapter.
- We have created the website, https://www.oldplainfieldcemetery.org and are developing a website dedicated to our organizational mission at https://www.plainfieldgraveguardians.org.
- We have advocated for more responsible landscaping maintenance practices and invested thousands of dollars in hiring private contractors, in collaboration with invested community members who share our vision.
GRAVE GUARDIANS CLEANUP EVENT
- Thanks to grant support from CT Humanities, we contracted with Smalltown 360 to photograph and map out every grave marker and create an interactive virtual platform, available at the website above.
- Most recently, we applied for and received a state-issued grant allowing us to contract with an architectural historian consultancy to facilitate the National Register of Historic Places nomination process beginning in November 2024.
- Last month, a diverse Selection Committee reflecting voices from our community invested many volunteer hours to meet, review bidder qualifications, and recommend an architectural historian consultancy. We just completed that process!
You can donate using the GoFundMe link or if you prefer to make your tax-deductible donation using a check, the mailing address is:
PLAINFIELD GRAVE GUARDIANS
PO BOX 403
DANIELSON, CT 06239
If you do choose to mail a check, then you will receive a letter acknowledging receipt of your donation for your own tax records.
To verify our nonprofit organization’s tax-exempt status, search using EIN 85-4354486 at this online IRS search tool: https://apps.irs.gov/app/eos/
Questions? Please email [email redacted]
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