In hopes of bringing awareness to green burial, there are two t-shirt designs being offered. The extremely rough sketches of the t-shirts along with a sign-up sheet will be in the Great Hall near the coffee. Shirts will be medium brown with white ink and the cost will be $10 to $12 depending on neck style. Money will be collected when t-shirts are delivered. Questions? Call Julia Sandman at 513-233-2517.
Heritage Acres is Now Part of UUA Faithify Program!
As Heritage Acres Memorial Sanctuary enters the final stretch of fundraising to complete its purchase of 40 acres in Pierce Township next month, our unique green burial project has been accepted into the Faithify program. Faithify is a Unitarian Universalist crowdfunding platform that encourages UUs from all over the world to support innovative programs created by UU churches and groups. We are proud to be among the select projects that Faithify has chosen to promote.
It is important that we demonstrate widespread support for our Faithify project, so please visit our campaign at Growing Green Burial the UU Way and give generously. Then, watch the Heirloom and your church bulletin and announcements next month for the grand announcement of our closing date on our Heritage Acres property. Thanks to all who have made this possible!
September 2019.
Enjoy A Picnic at Heritage Acres this Month
Saturday, September 21, 2019, 12 noon (Picnic).
You are invited to take a look at the future home of Heritage Acres Memorial Sanctuary, our green burial preserve, on Saturday, September 21 at noon. Weather permitting, we will hold a huge picnic on the grounds (800 Locust Corner Road in Pierce Township, in Clermont County) for anyone who wants to see the property that Heritage Acres is in the process of purchasing. Bring a blanket or beach towel to sit on, a picnic lunch, sunscreen and bug spray, and of course, an interest in meeting others and learning more about Heritage Acres.
Can’t wait until September 21? Like to work outdoors? Enjoy helping a great cause? Our next Heritage Acres Work Day will be Saturday morning, September 7. Arrive any time between 8 a.m. and noon and help us prepare our future green burial property. Our first Work Day drew nearly two dozen folks who enjoyed community, simply beautiful weather, and breaking a sweat together. We got an amazing amount of work accomplished! Thank you to Bob Booth, Peter Boylan, Donna Buckley, Bob Drake, Bob Lamb, Ellie Lamb, Gretchen Elliston, Rowley Elliston, Vicki Freimuth (who provided refreshments!), Bill Gupton, Marty Hermann, Nancy Moore, Ash Planitzer, Merrick Planitzer, Terry Planitzer, Sue Rahall, Lewis Riley, Jennifer Sanders, Dave Small, Dave Spinney, and Garry Wilson (hopefully we didn’t forget anybody…).
For the September Work Day, bring heavy duty work gloves and BYOT – Bring Your Own Tools. The most helpful are weed-eaters, loppers, pickaxes, clippers, wheelbarrows, chain saws, wire-cutters – and definitely a truck or two would be welcomed. We will continue removal of invasive plants and barbed-wire fencing / fenceposts.
Left to right: Dave Spinney, Bill Gupton, Lewis Riley, and Jennifer Sanders at the Heritage Acres Memorial Sanctuary work day, August 2019.
Left to right: Ash Planitzer and Ellie Lamb at the Heritage Acres Memorial Sanctuary work day, August 2019.
Looking Ahead to Heritage Acres Memorial Sanctuary
Our Senior Minister, Rev. Bill Gupton, was recently interviewed for the article “Back to Nature: Heritage Acres Memorial brings green burial to Cincinnati.” The article, by Eliza Bobonick, appeared in Soapbox Cincinnati, a weekly online magazine. You can read the article here.
Here is a flyover of the land planned for use by Heritage Acres Memorial Sanctuary. (There is no sound in this video.)
June 25, 2019.
Heritage Church End-of-Life Ministry
- Assisting members of our church family with pre-planning and making advance arrangements for their own deaths, and those of their loved ones
- Providing information about alternative end-of-life resources such as home funerals, natural burials, and support services
- Companioning, in love and compassion, members of our church family as they journey toward death’s doorstep
- Assisting members of our church family as they deal with the logistics and arrangements involved in the death of a loved one
- Assisting survivors in the logistics and arrangements involved at the time of the death of a member of our church family
- Providing pastoral resources at the time of death, immediately following the death, and in the days after the death
- Providing a loving, caring, and individually appropriate memorial service for members of our church family or their loved ones
- Supporting and providing resources and direct care for those who wish to care for a deceased loved one at home, wish to create a home funeral for a loved one, or desire a home funeral for themselves
- Providing sacred space, resources, pastoral support and direct care for those who wish to have a home funeral at the church
- Creating a natural burial sanctuary in the Greater Cincinnati area which will protect and preserve a part of our natural environment, while providing space for those in our church community and throughout the Tri-State region who desire a natural or “green” burial
Heritage Acres Signs Contract to Begin Land Purchase in Pierce Twp.
Future Site of Heritage Acres Memorial Sanctuary, in Pierce Township, Clermont County, Ohio
On April 26, 2019, Heritage Acres Memorial Sanctuary LLC made a down payment and entered into a purchase agreement with Misty Meadows Farm LLC to buy 40 acres of property in Pierce Township, on the east side of Cincinnati just outside I-275. Now that the future location of Heritage Acres has been identified and is under contract, our congregation’s unique green burial initiative has six months to raise the remaining funds necessary to close on the property and begin operation.
“This is the next major step toward our goal of being open to the public by the end of this year,” said Rev. Bill Gupton, President of the Heritage Acres Board. “I am confident that we will soon be able to offer the Cincinnati community this region’s first and only dedicated natural burial ground. Heritage Acres will provide an option previously unavailable anywhere in the Tri-State region. And we are very proud of the fact that our burial ground will preserve and protect 40 beautiful acres of land in its natural state, in a rapidly growing part of town. This is a win-win for our church, consumers, and the environment.”
The Board of Heritage UU Church voted to create Heritage Acres Memorial Sanctuary as a non-profit green burial cemetery and nature preserve in Nov. 2016. The past two and a half years have seen steady progress, a tireless search for land, and the creation of the business infrastructure and organizational planning necessary to undertake such a project. During 2017, a total of 28 individuals stepped up to join the Heritage Acres Founders Circle. Toward the end of 2018, a capital fund drive was initiated.
To date nearly $200,000 has been raised to support the operation of Heritage Acres and its purchase of property. Beginning in June, professional fundraisers Chanticleer Consulting and their founder Lisa Williams, a former Heritage Church member and past HUUC Board President, will be working with Heritage Acres to complete a capital fund drive by identifying and reaching out to major donors throughout the Cincinnati and Tri-State region.
If you have made a pledge to the Heritage Acres capital fund drive, or have been considering doing so, please contact any member of the Heritage Acres Board – Rev. Bill Gupton, Donna Buckley, Robert James, Laura Knight or Dave Spinney – to help support this preservation project. Spread the word (and fund drive brochures, which are available in the church lobby) among your friends and neighbors.
If you are interested in discussing burial options at Heritage Acres, please speak with Rev. Bill Gupton.
Green burial is coming to Cincinnati, and we are proud to be making it possible!
Map of Clermont County, Ohio, with Pierce Township Highlighted
End-of-Life Ministry Overview
The American way of dealing with death is fraught with problems. For several years, Rev. Bill Gupton and others at Heritage Universalist Unitarian Church have worked on many fronts to develop an end-of-life ministry. This ministry has included:
- Hosting a Death Café on numerous occasions, providing a safe space to talk informally with others about that most-taboo subject, death.
- Holding worship services that honor those who have died during the past year.
- Hosting the Death-Positive Film Series, showing each month a movie—fictional story or documentary—that deals in some important or unusual way with death.
- Arranging for the public, Cincinnati debut, at a local theater, of the movie In the Parlor.
- Holding multiple workshops and lectures to increase awareness of the natural burial option.
- Founding the organization Heritage Acres Memorial Sanctuary, which will eventually provide a place for natural burial.
- Training a select group of church members to perform in-home preparation of a body, for family mourning and natural burial.
- Hosting a performance of threshold singers, who provide song to a person slipping over the threshold of death.
- Providing memorial services to church members and relatives.
For more information on out end-of-life ministry, contact our Senior Minister, Rev. Bill Gupton, at:
