Volunteers help clean up historic Miami cemetery

Group gives back to community, honors ancestors

MIAMI – A group of volunteers are giving back to their community and honoring their ancestors by helping to clean up a historic cemetery in Miami.

Dwight Wells, the founder of Bikes Up Gunz Down Boys and Girls in Miami, told Local 10 News that for about a week now he's gotten volunteers to come out to Lincoln Memorial Park to help restore the site, a historic African-American cemetery off NW 46th Street.

"We had seen that our ancestors were here. It was a cemetery of the forgotten," Wells said. "We took initiative as a community to come together and work on a project."

Between word of mouth and social media, volunteers from all over have shown up day to day.

"It's giving back to my community of so many levels because you have to understand the great people who helped build Miami on the backs of Miami are out here," volunteer Amie Jackson said. "We've been cleaning leaves and cutting trees."

Local 10 News took a tour of the cemetery, which is overgrown and abandoned. Parts of it still look like a forest and graves are hidden. Volunteers have been painting the graves and pulling the weeds, but there's more work to do.

Organizers said they need volunteers, water and any additional equipment. The project is a way to keep the community involved.

Anyone who wishes to volunteer can call 305-801-1957. Money can also be donated to the cause through the group's GoFundMe page.


About the Author:

Andrew Perez is a South Florida native who joined the Local 10 News team in May 2014.