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Volunteers in Wilkes-Barre spruce up veterans' graves

Some of the veterans' graves were completely buried in grass and weeds.

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — Volunteers are working hard in Wilkes-Barre to make sure veterans are not forgotten.

Some of the graves, many of them veterans' graves, were completely buried in grass and weeds. That's now changed thanks to the efforts of volunteers.

Andy Gegaris spent his morning operating a riding mower and other landscaping equipment with volunteers at the Wilkes-Barre City Cemetery. He took a break from the mower to tell Newswatch 16 what was on his mind as he climbed through tall grasses and turned them into mulch to uncover forgotten graves.

"First, it's sacred ground, like this is somebody's mother, brother, daughter. But when you see the general and overall condition, you know that they're appreciating what's being done, that you're bringing back some dignity and respect because of years of, I don't want to be negative and say neglect, but with all the problems and chaos in the world, things like this are often overlooked," Gegaris said.

This is a collaborative effort of volunteers from New Roots Recovery Center and the Wilkes-Barre Area Blight Committee.

It's an effort cemetery volunteers like Joan Cavanaugh are thankful for. Without volunteers taking the time to remove overgrowth, she wouldn't be able to take photos of graves for an ancestry website.

"I am thrilled," said Cavanaugh. "I'm so happy that Mayor Brown is working with the blight committee. I'm very thankful that this has been cleaned up, makes me happy."

Volunteers with New Roots Recovery and the Wilkes-Barre Area Blight Committee have garnered a lot of support over the last year, cleaning up illegal dumping sites. They've gotten so much support that they've decided to expand their efforts to places like this cemetery.

"Our blight team with New Roots, and we believe that this is a different type of blight. It's trees and leaves and weeds, and it's unsightly, and then we restore the veterans' graves," said Greg Griffin, a New Roots Recovery volunteer.

Griffin is thankful his cleanup efforts are drawing in more and more volunteers to help make the greater Wilkes-Barre area a cleaner and safer place to call home.

"It just says a lot about Luzerne County and the Wyoming Valley," Griffin added. "We're just restoring the veterans' graves and giving them their honor back because they're covered with trees and leaves, and now you can see the veterans' names."

The cleanup effort will continue with more volunteers on Saturday.

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