ELKHORN, Neb. (KMTV) — After Prospect Hill Cemetery was hit by the tornado, volunteers helped with cleanup but long-term care remains a challenge. 3 News Now's Jill Lamkins set up a meeting to connect the cemetery to the right resources.
- Cemetery board members met with Nebraska VOAD and the Omaha Community Foundation to try and figure out what the cemetery's current needs are.
- The non-profit run cemetery is grateful for the community's support but is still struggling with funding and is worried for the future care of the cemetery.
- Omaha Community Foundation has invited the cemetery board to speak at their next monthly meeting to connect them to several of their 30 partner organizations.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Last April, Prospect Hill Cemetery in Elkhorn was directly hit by the tornado. Volunteers helped with cleanup, but long-term care remains a challenge. That's when 3 News Now reporter Jill Lamkins set up a meeting to try and connect caretakers with the right resources.
"Most of the damage took place from about the very crest of the hill..."
Over 400 stones knocked over, and hundreds of trees damaged or destroyed.
The initial cleanup is something cemetery board member Rory Schroeder is incredibly thankful for, but now, the nonprofit-run cemetery is struggling with funding.
"We had to break into our reserve funds—that is what we keep for perpetual care. And we were using funds out of that in order to pay people and everything else, and we're just trying to recoup that so the cemetery does not run out of funds in future years," said Schroeder.
Schroeder says they reached out to FEMA, but there wasn't anything they could do.
So, Lamkins contacted FEMA and they told her there is assistance available for cemeteries.
That's when we got in contact with Jan Zurcher.
"I said let me reach out and ask some questions, and my FEMA person said that would be awesome. And so that's how I got your information, and we've started this whole project", said Zurcher.
Zurcher is the chair of Nebraska VOAD, a group of Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster.
Working together, we set up a meeting with the cemetery to connect them to those who could help.
"When we walked in the room, we really didn't have any idea what their needs were," said Zurcher.
Zurcher brought with her two members of the Omaha Community Foundation.
OCF is coordinating a Tri-County Long-Term Recovery Group for those affected by the tornado.
"We're really now just starting to see people say, 'I don't know what else to do.' And that's really where the long-term recovery group is ready to step in and help," said Megan Stubenhofer-Barrett, Omaha Community Foundation Director of Marketing and Communications.
After hearing their needs, OCF invited the cemetery board to speak at their next monthly meeting.
"We have some grant ideas, we have some just other resources, some groups that we think we can connect them to," said Stubenhofer-Barrett.
It's a step in the right direction to continue to care for loved ones lost here at Prospect Hill.
"To be able to make contact—we didn't know about any of the folks that we met with today, which, you know, it's just because we just didn't have the information, didn't know where to turn. And for them to share with us what's available and what could be possible is just absolutely tremendous," said Schroeder.
The next Omaha Community Foundation meeting is on Friday.
