Photo: submitted photo

SMILE. FFA members smile for a group picture at Freeman Cemetery on Tuesday, Sep. 26. This event was a volunteer service cleanup that FFA participated in where they cleaned up debris throughout the cemetery. “I liked it because it (the event) gave a local impact on our community,” sophomore and Vice President Preslin Rutherford said. “It was also nice seeing the good in other kids being like, ‘Hey I don’t know anyone here but I want to help,’ and having them help clean up.

FA members traveled to Freeman Cemetery in Conroe, to help clean graves as a part of one of its community service events after school Tuesday, Sep. 26, 2023.
“We just felt that we wanted to be more involved with our community,” Senior Ronal Cardona said. “We decided to clean our local cemetery because we know a lot of students have family buried there. This was really important to me because I feel like a lot of people don’t have the time or money to maintain the graves so as a chapter we wanted to help.”
After the group arrived at the cemetery, the event began with an introduction from one of the cemetery’s representatives, Linda Littlefield.
“She gave us expectations like how she wanted sticks to be picked up and the fence line cleaned out from twigs,” Sophomore and Vice President Preslin Rutherford said. “We ended up telling her that we were ‘free labor’ and there to do whatever they needed from us. ”
The group then split into sections and began cleaning around the cemetery. The members were advised not to mess with the headstones, only to clean around the area by clearing any leaves and sticks. Rutherford liked that it “gave a local impact on our community.”
“This cemetery is where a lot of my mother’s side of the family is buried, I liked seeing how I helped my own family, as well as helping others at the same time,” Rutherford said.
Second-year member and senior Julie Juarez said she would do it again if she had the chance.
“It was nice knowing that we were helping her (the representative) out and saving her all that time that she would’ve had to do,” Juarez said. “Also, knowing that she didn’t have to struggle to go pick up all that stuff by herself because she had someone to help her.”
Rutherford said the experience helped her learn what it’s like to maintain a cemetery.
Rutherford said, “I got to see how this kind of organization works, how they keep up with an area like this and how they plant all the things there because I feel it is important to respect those who have passed and keep that respect there for them.”