Olivewood faced challenges during 2020, as so many did. But despite the difficulties brought on by the global pandemic, we also had many successes this past year. We are so grateful for all of our volunteers who continue to work tirelessly to preserve and maintain this beautiful and sacred space. In 2020 we had the blessing of adding many new individuals and organizations to our list of volunteers, and we look forward to making even more new friends in this new year.
Early in the year we sponsored the Headstone Restoration Workshop, presented by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Texas Cemetery Restoration. Students from Cy-Lakes High School and volunteers from the University of Houston-Clear Lake came in February and did a tremendous job helping us with clean-up.
During the summer we hosted a Facebook Live virtual tour in celebration of Juneteenth, and we conducted our first Halloween live stream in the fall. We had a great group of volunteers from the community help us with clean-up, both in preparation for our Halloween event and to help with much needed clean-up that had to be postponed due to COVID-19 concerns.
As we look forward to 2021, we hope to continue working toward our goals of preservation and maintenance of the cemetery. We will continue our fight against erosion, weathering, and vandalism, and we continue to research the lives of those who are buried here.
Our volunteers and donors are essential to this work. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts and look forward gratefully to your continued support.