MOUNT VERNON – Mount Vernon City Councilman Tanner Salyers wants to help homeless residents who die gain some dignity by memorializing them and covering the expenses of their deaths.
Salyers formed the nonprofit Forget-Me-Not Municipal Memorial Fund with several other people. They are seeking more board members and donations.
“Instead of just allowing these people to become statistics, I wanted to pursue some sort of way that we could honor and memorialize these people and cover their expenses,” Salyers told the Mount Vernon News.
He doesn’t want this final act to be the sum of their lives with the city covering expenses right at the end.
“Because they had dignity and they had value,” Salyers said.
If a homeless or indigent city resident dies without family around, the City must handle the final expenses for that person. The body is cremated and held for 90 days to give any family a chance to claim the remains. If nobody from the family claims the remains, the City inters them in Mound View Cemetery.
Forget-Me-Not’s goal is to cover the expenses the City incurs. The City budgets $15,000 for these expenses but had to appropriate another $2,000 last year. Expenses for eight persons were covered by the City in 2020.
“So in short, the City is out of pocket for about $1,200 per indigent,” Salyers said, adding that he can think of a thousand other things the City can spend that $15,000 to $17,000 on.
In addition to those expenses, donations would fund a large memorial event for all the indigent residents who died, with hopes of a large attendance by local residents. This year’s memorial might look a bit different than their ultimate plans because of COVID, but Salyers said they hope to hold the event at Ariel-Foundation Park.
“We look to plant Forget-Me-Nots by their gravestones at the cemetery and maybe do some other things that will keep the names of these individuals alive,” he said.
The nonprofit organization has approximately five people who serve on its board now.
“We’re really looking for people that have nonprofit experience,” Salyers said. “It is not required, of course.”
They particularly could use volunteers who have a legal-, finance- or fundraising background.
They aim to raise $25,000 this year. The first $15,000 will go to the City, with more funds kept in reserve in case expenses increase. The rest will go to fund the events and programs that memorialize the individuals.
Contact Salyers at 740-357-9205 or at his email address, tsalyers@mountvernonohio.org.
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