MEMORIAL GARDEN ON A SHOESTRING
A Client Story
March 23, 2009

Sometimes a memorial garden project can seem too big for a small congregation, but one church in Brownwood, Texas took that challenge and met it with grace and style. Kit Timmons, a member of the Good Shepherd Anglican Church shared, “We were fortunate that our congregation has a large number of skilled and talented craftsmen. We were able to purchase the columbarium and do all of the landscaping and artwork ourselves.” In fact, Kit herself participated in the physical installation of the Architarium columbarium.

She goes onto say, “We are a small church of only 150 members, but we wanted to offer a place for our members and keep them with us. We knew that this project could be daunting, but we took the scope and found resources within the members to address most of the areas ourselves. We handled landscaping, construction and placing the 9-foot tall St. Joseph stained glass window ourselves. We are so happy with the results.”

So what can your organization do to save costs on a memorial garden project?

• Look to your members for skills that are needed in planning. Post a list of skill set needs such as project management, budgeting, landscaping, etc.
• Look to your members for physical labor as well. Again, post a list of skill set needs such as masonry, landscaping, etc.
• Ask members or local businesses for a donation of products or services. Sometimes it is easier for a business to donate its products or services than cash.
• Look around your premises for things that can be used or recycled such as excess landscaping, spare pavers, etc.
• Save subsequent administration labor with processes and templates. They save work and eliminate rework. Architarium provides a set of administrative templates to clients such as a niche purchase form, a face plate engraving form, etc.

If you assess your community, you’ll find that you have a lot of resources already at your fingertips for a memorial garden project. And when you’ve completed your project, you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing you built something important for the community and did it economically.