MASON CITY – An informational meeting about the Elmwood-St. Joseph’s Cemetery Sentry Program will be held on Wednesday, May 2nd at 6:30 pm in the Cemetery office at 1224 S. Washington Avenue in Mason City. The goal of the program is to reduce the incidents of missing decorations from gravesites and enhance the safe and serene setting of the cemetery.
Volunteers get to enjoy the peaceful setting, natural beauty and historic gravestones that exist in the cemetery as they monitor the grounds. Elmwood-St. Joseph is a relaxing place to spend a couple of hours each week. The amount of time and schedule is determined by each volunteer.
Last year, the Cemetery Sentry Program was implemented at Elmwood-St. Joseph Municipal Cemetery with great success. The reported incidents of missing decorations were reduced by a whopping 50%, thanks to the efforts of the Sentry volunteers. The Cemetery hopes to improve security even more this year with additional people on watch.
Sentry Monitors and Sentry Patrols are the two components to the program and offer different levels of involvement. Sentry Monitors keep watch on their regular visits to the cemetery to tend a gravesite, meditate, walk, jog or bike. Sentry Patrols schedule time to monitor the grounds from their vehicles. Volunteers in each part of the program are trained to identify suspicious activity and how to report it.
If you’re interested in becoming a part of this worthwhile effort and cannot attend the meeting, please contact Randy Opheim at ropheim@masoncity.net or 641-512-0956.
