The journey to AMC’s Nature Preserve

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Back in 2012, members of Akron Mennonite Church attended seminars on end-of-life planning which included discussions about burial options. This triggered a discussion about the use of the 4 acres next to the church as a memorial garden.

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A group of members formed the Memory Garden ministry team under the church’s Outreach Committee to explore the idea further. The Outreach Committee provided seed funding and landscape architects were appointed. The initial proposal presented by the architects was far more expansive than the AMC team desired and after further discussions a more modest plan with more natural elements was agreed. This became the core of the plan approved for use in the 2022 construction.

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By 2015 the church was in the midst of an interior renovation of the Assembly Room and the lobby area. Funds were limited and so the Memory Garden project was postponed. However, the vision was kept alive and the AMC team contacted Lancaster City Mennonite churches which did not have their own burial grounds to explore whether they would be interested in joining as an inter-Mennonite project. These discussions were well received and interest was expressed in collaboration with the project, with AMC retaining control and ownership.

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During the following couple of years, the project was again postponed due to budgetary needs and fear a Memory fund raising campaign would divert funds from operational needs at AMC. However, a small group of AMC members kept the vision alive by several individuals providing donations that ensured design costs and fees were covered.

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By 2019, finances were looking more favorable and the church had embarked on another project – the addition of solar panels to the church’s roof. The Memory Garden team decided to refocus the project from that of a Memory Garden to a Nature Preserve. This more aligned the project with the church’s Anabaptist values and focus on creation care (e.g. through the use of solar panels) and opened the resulting space to use by members of the community. Use of native trees and plants will also ensure that the 4 acres would add to the growing environmental movement in Lancaster County to create and replace native habitat to help wildlife and pollinators to thrive.

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The relationship with Lancaster City churches and one in Akron was revived and five local churches agreed to invest in the project to provide their own members with access to cemetery lots; these churches are Pilgrims Mennonite (Akron), Blossom Hill Mennonite, James Street Mennonite, Community Mennonite Church of Lancaster and East Chestnut Street Mennonite.

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In April of 2022, the AMC church council officially approved the project only after sufficient pledges and cash were in hand to cover the cost of construction. By late spring a construction contract was signed. The initial plans were amended eliminating a driveway from Diamond Station Road up to the church parking lot and removing the columbarium and memory wall reducing construction costs enough to move ahead with the Nature Preserve. In the future the eliminated items could be added, if funds were available.

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The scope of the project

A Nature Preserve with trees, walking paths, flowering meadow, and rain garden, will be created in the 4-acre plot of grassland adjacent to the church.

A sidewalk will be set in along Diamond St and Diamond Station Rd from the church entrance to the lower end of the property.

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