Opportunities for Inclusion

The Friends of Pleasant Valley Cemetery (PVC) is a group of volunteers that assist with the various activities that occur within the Cemetery. This group of willing volunteers assist with the routine maintenance of the Cemetery which includes picking up of trash, sticks, removal of spent floral bouquets, making note of areas of the cemetery that need attention such as broken monuments, depressed areas of the ground or areas that need reseeding of grass, minor trimming and pruning and cleaning of old monuments. If anyone is interested in becoming a volunteer Friend of PVC, they are asked to contact Mike Flanagan at (913) 706-3766 or e-mail at Mpaulf62@gmail.com.

Pleasant Valley Cemetery has many sponsorship opportunities available to you. If you would like to purchase a tree, bench or other item as a memorial to a loved one, please contact Mike Flanagan at (913) 706-3766 or e-mail at Mpaulf62@gmail.com.

We also have several large sponsorship opportunities on our horizon that you could sponsor or endow. Some of the project are:

• Electricity to the George Boyd Memorial Chapel
• Erecting an Information Kiosk within the Cemetery
• Putting in the road structure in the southern portion of the cemetery
• Putting in the water lines to the southern portion of the cemetery
• Excavating the southwest corner of the cemetery to allow for future expansion
• Upgrades to the Website and Records Management System
• Providing small ground-level monuments for our many unmarked graves

If you are interested in any of these projects, please contact Mike Flanagan.

The Annual Meeting of the Pleasant Valley Cemetery District Association, Inc. is held on the second Saturday of August at 10:00 a.m. at the cemetery in front of the George Boyd Memorial Chapel. All lot owners are encouraged to attend. An annual budget is published and voted on for the operation and maintenance of the Cemetery as well as other cemetery related issues and concerns as well as the election of Board Members.

The Luminary Project began in 1999 as a community service of the Jana E. Pinker Memorial Foundation. The Foundation supplies the materials and volunteers prepare and place the more than 600 luminaries within the Cemetery. Friends of PVC are involved with the filling of the luminary bags which occurs annually on December 24th from Noon to 1:00 p.m. at the George Boyd Memorial Chapel within the Cemetery. The candles are lit at 4:00 p.m. on December 24th. Please feel free to join us in preparing for this annual event. We also encourage you to take a drive through the cemetery during the evening on Christmas Eve. It is a very beautiful peaceful tranquil sight and one that should be enjoyed by many.

The Friends of PVC conduct an annual Spring and Fall Clean-up of the cemetery which occurs on the first non-rainy Saturday in April (provided that is not Easter weekend) at 9:00 a.m. and the first non-rainy Saturday in October. We gather at the George Boyd Memorial Chapel and begin to remove all floral decorations, (fresh or artificial) whether in vases or not, from the monuments. We do not remove mementos. Unused, generic, shepherd hooks are also removed. This is only done twice a year and clears the cemetery for new, fresh decorations to be placed on grave sites for Memorial Day and then prepares the cemetery for the Holiday Season.

• Friends of PVC come to the cemetery on the Saturday before Memorial Day at 9:00 a.m. and assist in setting out American flags on the grave sites of Veterans as well as along the front gates of the Cemetery.
• At 5:00 p.m. on Memorial Day, the Friends of PVC come to the cemetery to assist with the removing of the American Flags from the grave sites of Veterans and pack them away for next year as well as take down the flags along 159th Street.
• At 6:00 p.m. anyone is invited to participate in our Annual Pleasant Valley Cemetery Pot Luck that will begin at 6:00 p.m. The Cemetery provides fried chicken and everyone is asked to bring a dish to share as well as their drink of choice. The Pot Luck is held in front of the George Boyd Memorial Chapel.