NORWEGIAN TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- A cemetery near Pottsville was said to be in such bad condition, that you could barely tell it was even a burial ground.
Thanks to Home Depot, that cemetery was cleaned up today.
Colorful flowers tied to crosses stand beside grave markers at Mt. Laurel Cemetery outside of Pottsville, but as recently as Monday, this looked more like a jungle in Norwegian Township, than a place where the deceased lie in peace.
"You couldn't see any headstones, nothing," Tina Osatchuck said.
"Nothing but brush, you couldn't tell it was a cemetery," Jamie Osatchuck added.
Tina and Jamie Osatchuck both have family members buried in the cemetery. During a recent trip, they noticed the condition of the burial ground was in deplorable condition. That's when Home Depot stepped in, volunteering 50 of its employees from Dickson City, all the way to the Philadelphia area, to transform and clean up the place.
"I was blown away. I didn't understand how one human being could let it get to this point," said Home Depot's Matthew Stufflet. "Just out of the sympathy for the community, having family members buried here, just to come out here and clean it up means a lot to us."
As workers clean up, they continue to uncover more gravestones.
"What really got me was when you drive through and what you saw was nothing but weeds and everything was overgrown. And out of all those weeds and everything, there were American flags sticking up from a veteran (grave). We got to do something. We have to clean this place up," said Home Depot's David Seresky.
Home Depot is also donating much of the power equipment used here back to the cemetery, so people can maintain the plots of their loved ones.