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AmeriCorps Mission
NCCC Pledge Statement
I will get things done for
America - to make our
To strengthen
people safer, smarter, and communities and
healthier. develop leaders
I will bring Americans through team based
together to strengthen our
communities. national and
Faced with apathy, I will community service.
take action. Faced with
conflict, I will seek
common ground.
Faced with adversity, I will Campus
persevere.
I will carry this Address
commitment with me this
year and beyond. 2715 Confederate Ave
I am an AmeriCorps Vicksburg, Mississippi
member, and I will get 39180
things done.
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THANK Y U

TO…
Ted Maris-Wolf (Evergreen Cemetery Caretaker), for his passion about
the Evergreen Project, for caring not only for the wellbeing of the
cemetery but for everyone who worked on it, and for communicating all
the information Delta 4 needed to know and more.
John Sydnor (Executive Director of Enrichmond), for getting the team
YMCA memberships for the time Delta 4 spent in Richmond and for
bringing the team doughnuts on the worksite.
Aaron McFarland (TreeLab Manager) for teaching the team about trees
and chainsaws.
Ajena Rogers (Maggie Walker House Tour Guide) and Beth Marschak
(Valentine Museum Tour Guide), for guiding Delta 4 through the house
of one of Richmond’s many historic heroes and letting the team know
about the history of Jackson Ward, a historic part of downtown
Richmond.
The Hi Richmond Hostel Staff, for welcoming Delta 4 and being helpful in
every situation.
Amanda Healy (AmeriCorps Manager for Virginia Service), for
generously stopping by to talk about her work and bringing the team
doughnuts on her day off.
John Shuck (Friends of East End) and Marvin Harris (Evergreen
Restoration Foundation) for being all star volunteers and continuing to
lead community efforts to restore Evergreen, East End, and other
Richmond cemeteries. Their work has inspired Delta 4.
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Table of Contents
AmeriCorps NCCC Information 2
Dedication and Acknowledgments 3
Executive Summary 5
History of Communities 6
History of Organization 7
Evergreen Cemetery Information 8
Role of AmeriCorps NCCC 9
Project Mission and Goals 10
Schedules 11
Quantifiables 12
Service Learning Summation 13
Team Positions and Details 14-15
Reflections 16-17
Community and Corps Member Benefits 18
Pluses and Even Better If’s 19
Press Release 20
Useful Information for Future Teams 21
Community Information 21
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Executive Summary
Delta 4 served in Evergreen Cemetery, a historic African-American
cemetery in the East End of Richmond, Virginia.

The organization Enrichmond Foundation requested an NCCC team to

help reclaim the cemetery that has become overgrown after 40 years of
neglect from the previous owners. The team worked in Evergreen to
remove brush and uncover headstones.

The mission of the project was to uncover and restore part of Evergreen
to what it once was. Delta 4 (pictured below) worked for almost four
weeks cutting trees, digging out vines, and weed whacking the land to
rediscover plots and headstones. The team finished clearing seven acres
of land.
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History of Community
Richmond, VA was planned in 1737 near the James River. It was
incorporated as a town in 1742. In 1775, Patrick Henry delivered
his famous “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” speech in
Richmond’s St. John’s Church. The speech was crucial in
prompting Virginia to participate in the First Continental Congress.
In 1780, Richmond replaced Williamsburg as Virginia’s capital city.
Although the city was burned by British troops in 1781, Richmond
recovered from the war with no major complications.
On April 17, 1861, five days after the attack on Fort Sumter,
Virginia’s legislature voted to secede from the United States and join
the Confederate States of America. In May, Richmond was made the
new capital of the Confederacy. Due to its location at the end of an
unfortunately long supply chain, Richmond was difficult to defend
and became the main target of several Union campaigns throughout
the war. The city was finally captured in April 1865, at the end of
the war. Retreating Confederate troops burned over a quarter of the
city and much of its resources.
Richmond recovered from the war to become an economic
titan of the American South, focused primarily on the shipment of
tobacco and cigarettes. In 1888, the city opened the first electric
trolley system in the United States
The city is approximately 51% Black, 41% White, 6% Hispanic,
and 5% Asian. The median household income is $31,124. Over 21%
of the population is currently living below the poverty line
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History of Enrichmond Foundation

Since 1990, The Enrichmond Foundation has enacted their
mission by supporting The Department of Parks,
Recreation, and Community Facilities through citizen
involvement, education, and fundraising. The most
prevailing of these services is acting as an umbrella non-
profit organization for over one hundred volunteer groups
and special initiatives or ‘Friends’ groups.

Their partners include community and civic associations,

outdoor enthusiasts, garden and history groups, and other
citizen-based groups whose primary interest is to maintain,
restore, preserve, or improve Richmond’s public
recreational resources.

The Enrichmond Foundation is governed by a board of

directors and works closely with The Department of Parks,
Recreation, and Community Facilities. This relationship
began when the Foundation was first established in 1990
with the assistance of the Citizen’s Advisory Board and The
Department of Parks, Recreation, and Community
Facilities. The purpose is and has always been to provide a
means for citizens to give back to their communities.
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History of Evergreen Cemetery

Evergreen Cemetery is a historic African-American cemetery in the
East End if Richmond, Virginia, dating from 1891. Notable African-
American Richmonders including Maggie L. Walker, John Mitchell Jr.,
A.D. Price, and Rev. J. Andrew Bowler are buried there. There are an
estimated 10,000 plots in Evergreen and it is over 60 acres in land.
The most recent burial in the historic section of the cemetery dates
from the 1980s. Much of the privately-owned cemetery is completely
overgrown. The original organization responsible for the cemetery,
made no allowances for perpetual care in its charter
The Enrichmond Foundation acquired the cemetery in May 2017, and
in partnership with the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, will place it
under a conservation easement to protect if from future development.
Major efforts over the next several years will include: clearing
overgrowth and refuse, maintaining cleared areas, mapping gravesites,
recording grave information, increasing visitor safety, and making the
cemetery and its records available to families of those interred.

Above is a satellite map of the cemetery grounds. Evergreen is circled.

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Role of AmeriCorps NCCC

AmeriCorps NCCC recovered roughly 5% of a
burial ground that had not been restored in
several decades. Evergreen Cemetery is
overgrown and desecrated with underbrush
and weeds. The team removed debris, weeds,
vines, and cut down trees that were covering
and invading plots and grave markers. There is
a lot of history about Richmond’s previous
African American population buried within
Evergreen. Delta 4’s role means a lot to the
families of the deceased that lie within the
cemetery, to the historic figures from
Richmond, Virginia and to the community
around Evergreen.

Team Leader,
Alexis Zysek, in
the middle of an
overgrown plot.
Delta 4 cleared
the plot along
with the rest of
Zone 2, and
removed 13,400
pounds of brush,
trees, and weeds.
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Project Mission and Goals

NCCC’s main task was to remove
overgrowth, plants, trash and debris from
gravesites and clear walkways in the
specific work area. The team’s specific area
was Zone 2, which is roughly 7 acres.

Above is a map of a portion of Evergreen. Delta 4 worked on Zone 2, which

is roughly 7 acres in size.
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Daily Schedule
Monday – Friday:
7:15am Leave for Evergreen.
7:15am – 7:30am Travel to worksite.
7:30am Arrive at worksite.
7:30am – 7:45am Tool check out.
7:45am – 11:30am Work on the cemetery.
11:30am – 12:00pm Lunch break.
12:00pm – 3:00pm Work on the cemetery.
3:00pm – 3:30pm Tool sweep, tool check in.
3:30pm – 3:45pm Travel back to housing.
Weekly Schedule
Monday – Friday Work at Evergreen
Weekend Days off
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Quantifiables
The team removed roughly 13,400 pounds
of plants and overgrowth.
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Service Learning Summation

Orientation the team received from the
sponsor:
Tours of the history of Richmond and how it
relates to Evergreen Cemetery.
All skills and knowledge learned through the
teams Service Learning Opportunities:
Evergreen Cemetery was originally planned to
be the African-American equivalent of
Hollywood Cemetery. The team went to visit
Hollywood Cemetery, and discussed the
differences between the two cemeteries. Delta 4
discussed topics such as funding and upkeep
of Hollywood compared to Evergreen.
Hollywood Cemetery today, is pictured below.
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Specialty Role Descriptions

Team Leader, Alexis Zysek, led the team
to be organized, creative, constructive, and
motivated. She also helped a corps member
Corps Member
start taking his GED tests. Quote
Assistant Team Leader, Hannah Mitchell, “It was the
supervised the group and took on
perfect stepping
responsibilities such as recording hours,
quantifiables, and assisting Alexis with stone in my
end of the round paperwork. career to have the
Project Outreach Liason, Hannah opportunity to
Mitchell, organized an ISP with the handle the
Community Food Collaborative at the Enrichmond social
Cornerstone Community Farm. Her and media pages. This
four other team members spent the day is the work that I
at Fairfield Middle School weeding,
look to be doing
planting garlic, laying compost, and
laying mulch down in garden beds. one day for a non-
During this project, they were able to profit and I got a
work with 11 other volunteers from the taste of that for
community. my future.” Molly
Media Representative, Molly Huhn, had Huhn, Media
the opportunity to take over the Representative
Enrichmond Foundation’s Facebook and
Instagram. She also contacted media and
members alumni institutions to bring
awareness to the work that Delta 4 was
doing.
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Diversity POC, Molly Huhn, led the team in the reading of

the article “The Legacy of Lynching”, and had the team
draw pictures of what the project and article meant to
them.
Health and Wellness POC, Jared Connolly, had the team go
to the YMCA that Delta 4s’ sponsors got memberships to.
For wellness, Jared led the team in “unnamed kudos”,
where the team shouted out a specific teammate, but did
not say who it was.
Service Learning Initiator, Jackie Papetti, took Delta 4 to
Hollywood Cemetery, which was originally supposed to be
the white equivalent to Evergreen Cemetery. There, the
team participated in a conversation discussing the
differences between the two cemeteries and how their work
would benefit the community.
Recruiter and Assistant Recruiter, Bernardia Flavius and
Kyle Ammerman, counted informal talks and held a
presentation at Virginia Union University.
Vehicle, Safety, and Tools Coordinator and Assistant VST,
Chris Henderson and Liam Cleckly, performed vehicle
inspections and housing inspections. Tool check in and out
was also performed everyday upon arriving and leaving the
worksite.
Life After AmeriCorps Representative, Quentin Rubel,
conducted meetings with each team member on Delta 4
about the status of their resumes. Those in need of help
were given resources as well as practical assistance in
improving the quality of their resume.
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Reflections
“Enrichmond has been my favorite project so far in my AmeriCorps
experience. I immediately felt welcome to Richmond. Enrichmond
worked hard to make sure Delta 4 knew the meaning of their work
and the impact that they were going to have on the community from
the first day and beyond. I feel I will have a lifelong connection to
the work I've done here and I hope I will be able to come to visit
back after my AmeriCorps term.” Alexis Zysek, TL
“This project with Enrichmond has been a learning experience.
Before working in Evergreen, I had never picked up a landscaping
tool. Before working with Enrichmond, I had never heard of Maggie
Walker or John Mitchell, who were both incredible civil rights
activists. Our sponsors and their work has taught me so much and
I will always be grateful for the opportunity I got to work with
Enrichmond.” Jackie Papetti, CM
“I was very excited for this particular project. I had heard good
things about the housing, the sponsor, the work, and the city of
Richmond, most of which turned out to be true. I find it hard to
fault any aspects of this project.” Quentin Rubel, CM
“This project has shown me that I have a love of history. That those
that have passed are not forgotten. There is respect and love for
those who has passed on in life. Also, that there’s people in this
world who fight for dignity for those who can’t fight for themselves
and I hope I am one of them that fights.” Bermardia Flavius, CM
“Being a part of Enrichmond was great. I was able to learn valuable
histories that would otherwise have been secluded from me. I feel
an obtuse sense of pride, showing respect to great revolutionaries
by renovating their burial site. I am so happy to have been a part of
this project.” Chris Henderson, CM
“It has been an honor working with Enrichmond because we got to
restore a historical cemetery. I enjoyed getting to know John and
Ted. I love learning about historical figures.” Kyle Ammerman CM
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“Working with Enrichmond has shown me how important it is to

manage our historical sites as communities. If not for Enrichmond,
the Evergreen Cemetery would still be completely overgrown with
weeds and brush. I believe that this assignment has been more of
our significant projects in learning as a team and as people. I hope
Enrichmond continues to apply for NCCC teams for as long as they
are needed.” Jared Connolly, CM
“It has been a privilege to have worked with Enrichmond and in
Evergreen Cemetery. There are a lot of historic figures that I
consider to be an inspiration buried within the cemetery. I have
nothing to put down about this project, it was an honor serving
here.” Liam Cleckly
“This project has been an incredibly enlightening experience. While
working with the Enrichmond Foundation, we have been able to
explore some of Richmond's roots in the Civil Rights Movement
while also being able to revitalize that same history through our
work in the cemetery. Every day of work, we have the privilege to
help uncover gravestones of individuals who once made their mark
on the Richmond community, and I think that's beautiful. I hope
that our work at the Evergreen Cemetery is a stepping stone for
other volunteers to lend their hands in revitalizing such a
remarkable landmark.” Hannah Mitchell, CM
“I think that this project was very interesting in the sense that our
worksite was a cemetery. I learned a lot of new facts about
American history. We got to learn about history while being a part
of it. It was easy to see the work we were able to accomplish these
3.5 weeks by looking at before and after photos, but the work we
did goes way beyond just removing invasive species. It is
reconnecting history and loved ones with those that have lost. It is a
shame that Evergreen wasn’t properly taken care of, but I am
grateful for the opportunity to learn about cemeteries and history.”
Molly Huhn, CM
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Corps Member Benefits

1. The ability to learn about important Civil Rights
figures that aren't as well known as the figures
taught in many history books
2. The ability to learn how to use different tools such
as loppers, chainsaws, and mattocks.
3. The ability to meet people in the community who
come to the cemetery.
4. Being able to uncover and "rediscover,"
headstones and memorabilia left by loved ones.

Community Benefits
1. The community regains a historical part of
Richmond.
2. People will find their descendants who have been
buried at evergreen cemetery.
3. The community gets to see the work NCCC does.
4. Enrichmond can educate the community and
officials about the need for preserving cemeteries
and historical sites.

Delta 4 Corps
Member, Jared
Connolly,
trimming weeds
and cutting
trees on the
ground in
Evergreen
Cemetery.
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Pluses Even Better If’s

Richmond was a great If the work was more
location to work and live engaging.
in.
The hostel had activities If the team had access to
for the team to do every a tool that allowed Delta
day. 4 to quickly remove
vines.
The Enrichmond staff If there was more of the
were all incredibly Enrichmond staff on the
dedicated to the project. worksite with Delta 4.
The team and If the team was able to
Enrichmond made a stay at the project for a
positive image for full round, so they would
Evergreen and have the time to pull the
AmeriCorps. vines from the roots.
It was interesting If the team were able to
learning about the record more of the
history of Richmond and graves, or started with it
how it related to the the first week rather
work. than halfway through.
The work was If there were some way to
meaningful, and it was learn about the people
easy to see that. Delta 4 “rediscovered”.
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For Immediate Release

December 6, 2017
Contact: Molly Huhn
Mobile: 515-863-1306
Email: malhuhn15@gmail.com

AmeriCorps NCCC Team helps Enrichmond Foundation restore African American

cemetery
RICHMOND, Va. – An AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) team, Delta
Four, is serving with Enrichmond Foundation in Richmond, Virginia, for four weeks. The NCCC
team of 11 members from the AmeriCorps NCCC Southern Region campus in Vicksburg,
Mississippi, is working to assist in the clearing of Evergreen Cemetery, a historic African
American cemetery.

The team is clearing vegetation and uncovering gravestones and walkways. In addition, they are
assisting with the recording of grave markers and associated features.

“I am excited for this opportunity to be a part of history. We get to be a part of keeping

individuals’ legacies alive, while leading the way for future volunteers to continue the work of
revitalizing this area,” says Team Member Bernardia Flavius from the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The Enrichmond Foundation’s mission is to serve the people, parks and public space of the City
of Richmond. Since 1990, they have enacted their mission by supporting The Department of
Parks, Recreation, and Community Facilities through citizen involvement, education and
fundraising. The most prevailing of these services is acting as an umbrella non-profit
organization for over one hundred volunteer groups and special initiatives or ‘Friends’ groups.
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Useful Information for Future Teams

- Keep tools in one area to not lose them.

- Get involved with Enrichmond staff.
- Take advantage of using Enrichmond media
accounts for “Media Hits”.
- Explore restaurants in downtown
Richmond near housing.

Community Information

- Byrd Theatre - $4 movie ticket

o 2908 W Cary St, Richmond, VA 23221
- Hollywood Cemetery
o 412 S Cherry St, Richmond, VA 23220