'Wanted to give'
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Members from the Kansas City Missouri Stake gathered Sept. 1 to transcribe the names and dates from more than 9,000 gravestones in the Brooking Cemetery in Raytown, Mo.
The information gathered by the volunteers was recorded on site into laptop computers, then submitted for posting on the Internet.
"We could not be happier with the results of the project," said Scott Thompson who organized the project for the stake. "We wanted to give back to the community. This transcription project will give the world much easier access to more than 9,000 ancestors.
"We also wanted to create a connection between today's members and those who lived in Jackson County many years before," he said. "Many of the burials dated back to the 1800s. Another goal was to help 'bring the Church out of obscurity' in this community. We received coverage from two network television stations and three newspapers, including the Kansas City Star."
Stake public affairs community relations specialist, Patti Kemp, noted how youth and children seemed to have a good time. She heard comments such as, "This was fun," "When are we going to do this again?" and "What a great idea for a service project."
She was interviewed by the media who were curious why this type of project was selected for a Church community service project.
The area originally covered by the stake when it was formed in 1956 by Elder Harold B. Lee and Elder Mark E. Petersen of the Quorum of the Twelve has been divided into eight stakes in the greater Kansas City area.
