- Description
- Updates
- FAQ
- Comments
- Backers
In November 2016, Heritage Universalist Unitarian Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, created Heritage Acres Memorial Sanctuary LLC, a non-profit 501(c)3 with the mission of “providing a natural or ‘green’ burial option in Greater Cincinnati while preserving a part of God’s creation for future generations.” Now, nearly three years later, we are in contract to purchase and preserve 40 beautiful acres of farmland in a rapidly developing suburb just east of town — land that would otherwise almost certainly become yet another shopping center or subdivision filled with cookie-cutter suburban homes.
Green burial is a growing movement in the U.S., designed to stop our culture’s wasteful and environmentally harmful burial practices by returning to age-old human rituals and traditions: simple, dignified burial without concrete vaults, metal caskets, or toxic embalming. Heritage Acres will be only the third such burial preserve in the state of Ohio, and the only one of its kind within a 150-mile radius of Cincinnati. And without a doubt, it will be the first green burial sanctuary in the world created and owned by a Unitarian Universalist church.
Our contract requires us to close on the purchase by Nov. 1, or the property will go back on the market and, most likely, be bought up by a developer. To date we have raised a little more than $250,000 of the $300,000 purchase price. In this Faithify proposal we are seeking just one percent of the total amount needed to buy and preserve this land — $3,000. Here’s your chance be part of the one percent! (Donors, if they wish, will receive a limited-edition “Donate Your Body to Nature” green burial bumper sticker to proudly display on your Prius, refrigerator, or wherever you like…).
By now we can almost hear you asking, “What will happen after you have bought the land?” Glad you asked! With an active and engaged Board that includes one member who has previously overseen a green burial preserve elsewhere — and with rules and regulations, zoning and other infrastructure already in place — Heritage Acres is ready to go operational and expects to be open to the public by the end of the year. Then, as with other green burial sanctuaries nationwide, we will use the fees paid by families for burial to maintain and preserve the land in a natural state, in perpetuity.
Learn more about us, and our vision for spreading the good news of natural burial, by visiting our website at heritageacresmemorial.org. Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/heritageacresmemorial, or follow us on Instagram at instagram.com/greenburialcincy.
Stretch Goals
To date we have just over $275,000, and any amount we can generate through Faithify will help us get there. Thank you!
Updates
GROWING GREEN BURIAL THE UU WAY: UPDATE
In response to directives from the governor of Ohio and local officials, we have postponed our April 22 Earth Day grand opening indefinitely.
Instead, we are simply having a "soft opening" by being open to the public starting on May 1. We hope to have a public celebration sometime in the summer.
Thanks to all our green burial supporters, Heritage Acres Memorial Sanctuary will soon be opening in Cincinnati -- on Earth Day, April 22! We have purchased 40 acres of beautiful rolling farmland just outside town, and are preparing it for both natural burials and the enjoyment of nature.
There are lovely meadows for body burials and beautiful woodlands for the burial of ashes. There will soon be hiking trails in the woods. Our current project is installing a nearly mile-long gravel drive to make the area accessible to vehicles.
If you are ever in the area, stop by and visit us, at 796 Locust Corner Road, Cincinnati, OH 45245. If you would like to continue to support our ongoing work (remember -- all contributions are tax deductible), visit https://www.heritageacresmemorial.org/donate/.
Please enjoy this short video of our gorgeous waterfall. Video
Project FAQ
We are inspired by our Unitarian Universalist Principles and Sources to honor the inherent worth and dignity of all persons by providing them with an environmentally sound and sustainable, natural and dignified return to the earth upon their death -- "ashes to ashes, dust to dust." We do this with profound awareness of our place in the interdependent web of existence, and in the natural cycle of life and death. Seeking to live (and die) in harmony with the rhythms of nature, we are called to offer this alternative to our community and region. The Rules and Regulations of Heritage Acres Memorial Sanctuary specifically state, "Aligned with Universalist principles, Heritage Acres shall not discriminate in any way against any person for any reason -- including but not limited to gender, age, religion, race, national origin, sexual orientation or ability." In short, we are a very unique expression of Unitarian Universalist values that will positively and profoundly impact countless families of all faiths, or no faith at all, for generations to come.
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10/07/2019$4,000.00
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10/05/2019$1,500.00
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10/04/2019$1,000.00
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10/03/2019$900.00
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10/01/2019$20.00
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09/28/2019$500.00
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09/28/2019$50.00
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09/20/2019$50.00
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09/15/2019From Lucy and Mike Carney$100.00
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09/15/2019$25.00