27. Organize a Service Project

When I came across the Billion Graves website I thought it would be a cool project to do for this goal I had. What is “Billion Graves”? Basically there are 2 parts to it: an app and a website. The app can be download onto your smart phone or tablet and uses GPS coordinates to locate the cemetery you are at and takes photos of headstones linked to its specific GPS coordinates. The photos are then uploaded onto the website where they can be transcribed by yourself or other users.

Once the image is available to locate in the cemetery someone searching for the individual named on the Headstone can find exactly where in the cemetery that person is buried. This is awesome because I know how long it can take to find someone that you are looking for. I have spent many hours walking through cemeteries on trips to Scotland, England and Manitoba looking for my ancestors. Some we have been able to find pretty quick, some took some looking around, while others could not be found.

What makes this a great service project is that we have the opportunity to help people outside of where we live find someone they are looking for while someone else can serve us by working on the same project in a cemetery where someone we are looking for may be buried. Another awesome thing about this project is that you can link the individual to your family tree on Familysearch.

In organizing this particular project for this evening I talked with the people in my ward (church congregation) over the FHE program if this was something we could do for our Monday evening activity. For those of you who might not know what that is, in my church members are encouraged to set aside Mondays as a family night or Family Home Evening (FHE). In my ward most people are students and live away from home so we are encouraged to join together as a ward or break off into smaller groups for an evening that includes a spiritual message, activity and refreshments.

Most of the people who joined in for the Service Project

I was really happy that we got a great turnout for this activity at the Edmonton Cemetery and it seemed that everyone enjoyed their time. Although, not all of us were able to take pictures on our phones due to a weak GPS signal. Personally, mine ranged from very bad to medium which was not good enough to take a photo. In the last 5 minutes of the activity, all of a sudden I got a “good” signal and was able to get two photos. I am glad that other people had more success though. I plan to go back another time and hopefully have a stronger GPS signal.

If you are looking for a service project to do on your own or with friends or family or your church group, scouting, girl guides or other group; I would encourage you to consider helping out with this project. I think it goes beyond just taking a photo to be transcribed. It’s taking the time to individually recognize someone who has passed on and acknowledging that at one time they lived and worked in the community you live in. It is also an opportunity to clear off some dirt, grass, branches or trash that may have ended up on the headstone and cleaning up  a bit which I also saw many people do.