Philipsburg:---Members of the Emerging Global Leaders Program, SIMARC students, the Youth Link Foundation, VKS volunteers, Rotaractors, well-known radio personality Elektra, Clean St Maarten N.V., St. Maarten Pride volunteers, other residents and even two visitors from the United States carried out a very successful clean-up of the Cul-de-Sac Cemetery on Saturday August 15th, 2009.
The Clean-up was facilitated by St. Maarten Pride Foundation and attracted some 55 volunteers who managed to fill 80 garbage bags which were subsequently transported to the landfill by Clean St. Maarten N.V. Saturday’s Clean-up provided volunteers (many of whom had never been to the Cemetery) with the opportunity to visit graves of ancestors and notable St. Maarten Families dating back to the 18th and 19 century.
Volunteers expressed a sense of inspiration by the day’s activities and mentioned that many of St. Maarten’s residents drive or walk by the Cul-de-Sac Cemetery every day without knowing that the area, which has been placed on the island’s monument list, holds such history.
St. Maarten Pride Foundation is calling on the island’s residents to respect the resting place of our ancestors by contributing to keeping it clean. The Foundation urges Government to allocate funds to and carry-out immediate and continuous beautification and protection of the Historic Cul-de-Sac burial grounds.
Pride Foundation would hereby like to thank all the Volunteers, who came out and made the event a success, for their tireless efforts.