Often the best protection for a cemetery comes from the local community, and that protection should start with maintenance. Concern for restoring and maintaining family cemeteries is mounting across Stafford as more previously unknown graves come to light because of increasing development in rural areas. In cemetery restoration, both money and manpower become critical issues. The principal, most viable force for cemetery care is the effort of descendants or concerned community members themselves. They are the most effective caregivers and protectors of any private cemetery. It is a role long played in Virginia—those who have loved ones or ancestors in a cemetery carry on the responsibility of taking care of those cemeteries.

The state government cannot take over the upkeep or provide money for repairs and continuous maintenance of a graveyard, nor can a private organization do so under most circumstances. Even local governments are unable to take on this responsibility unless the city or county owns the cemetery.

The SCCC depends on donations of money, materials, & time. Volunteers are always needed. Donations of equipment and materials always make our jobs easier. Donations of money to purchase equipment or materials are desperately needed.

Tax-deductible donations and funds raised by special events are deposited in an account with the Planning Department in Stafford County. Our aim is to accumulate a fund sufficient to purchase equipment and supplies that will enable our volunteers to better document, record and to assist in maintaining our cemeteries.

We need your donations to continue our work. If you would like to make a tax deductible donation, you may send your check or money order, made out to Stafford County, to:

Stafford County Cemetery Committee,

C/O Kathy Baker, Planning Department.

PO Box 339, Stafford, VA 22555-0339.

Your donations can really help.

Of course with gas prices as high as they are, this has become a major expense. We try to car pool when we go out on surveys to save on this cost.
$50 can provide 10 pairs of work gloves for volunteers,  2 long pry bars, 3 rakes, 3 shovels, 3 hand pruning saws, or bedding plants for a project site.
$100 can provide a year's supply of trash bags, an edger attachment for a weed trimmer, or 1/2 of our needed hand tools
$200 can provide a lawn mower, trimmer, or a magnetic gradiometer to find unmarked graves.
$500 can provide a ground tiller or a laptop to use in the field.
$1000-$1500 can provide enough equipment to conduct the documentation, preservation and maintenance of 2 small cemeteries for an entire year, or longer

In donating items or money to the SCCC, every little bit helps us in lowering our costs in our goal to document the cemeteries in Stafford County.