In 1864, The Eureka Hebrew Society purchased a plot of ground on Cedar Hill, in Virginia City, Nevada, for a cemetery. The cemetery served Virginia City’s Jewish community for years, but has since fallen into serious disrepair, decades of overgrowth concealing tombstones.

When Rabbi Mordy Richler, Chabad representative to Lake Tahoe, California, learned about the sad condition of the cemetery some 30 miles away, he organized a group of volunteers.

Dedicating the better part of their Sunday earlier this month, the volunteers used rakes, shovels, a weed whacker and a chain saw, cutting and clearing brush and weeds from the 100-by-100 square foot enclosure. They plan to return in the spring to complete the clean-up.