After casket unearthed, Cumberland County to spend $15K to rebury: 'This is somebody's family'

SPRING LAKE, N.C. (WTVD) -- In October, ABC11 reported the story of how a casket was becoming more and more exposed due to hurricane damage at a historically Black grave site.

That story prompted action from Cumberland County commissioners who will be allocating funds to rebury the casket.

Community members have also been raising thousands of dollars to restore the whole cemetery.

Densie Lucas says she's been leaning on her faith and her community as they've been raising money to rehabilitate this struggling cemetery--Hillside Cemetary in Spring Lake. The worst of the damage is a casket now visible from the street and exposed due to unrepaired damage from Hurricane Florence. She says they've raised more than $7,000 to restore the cemetery since they first spoke to ABC11 last month.

"The outstanding outpouring of support shows a love and desire that the community has to make sure that these loved ones are taken care of in perpetuity," Lucas said.

"Our first donation actually was a result of our last interview from a gentleman in Raleigh who just felt that it was his Christian duty to help us with a donation of $2,000."

Cumberland County is pitching in, too. The board of commissioners unanimously decided to allocate $15,000 from the county's general budget to rebury the casket. Board Chairman Glenn Adams says he hopes the effort will restore dignity while community members keep working to identify whose grave ended up exposed by the damage.

"This is somebody's family. It's either, their great-grandmother, or grandmother. It doesn't really matter. But we deserve to make sure that they are taken care of."

One man says he's proud his fellow veterans have been stepping up to help them clean up the graveyard of overgrown brush and litter in recent weeks. Their work has made many of the graves like these ones more visible.

"As they walk around their community, they see things that need to be taken care of," said RET. CSM Wilbur Graham. "And we have the skills and the ability to do that. And everybody that I talked to, especially the sergeant major community, stepped up."