Volunteer

Spirits Alive is an all-volunteer organization. If you would like to help, please email us.

Volunteers include tapophiles (aka cemetery fans), neighbors, history buffs, gardeners, cemetery supporters, and green space enthusiasts. Since 2006, Spirits Alive volunteers have:

Current Opportunities

Walking Tours: Trained guides conduct tours on site at daily from May through mid-October. Tours are also needed for school children and private groups of all ages scheduled by request. Guides are expected to go through a training with the tour coordinator to understand the context of the burial ground within the history of Portland, learn about “residents” of the cemetery, be able to describe the art and symbolism prevalent on gravestones as well as explain Spirits Alive conservation efforts. For more information, email us!

Gardening Workdays: We maintain shrubbery beds, prune shrubs and small trees, and restrain invasive vines threatening our perimeter fence and adjacent city sidewalks. We have been working to halt erosion on slopes by transplanting plugs of a native grass flourishing elsewhere in the cemetery. Group workdays will be scheduled periodically throughout the spring and summer and volunteers may choose to work on their own once familiar with the processes. Email us if you want to be included on the list.

Board Members: We are a small group of volunteers that organize and direct the activities and events that happen around Eastern Cemetery. If you ever wanted to help us, please let us know! We're always looking for eager and responsible members who would be willing to volunteer their time for quarterly meetings and participate in how we run the non-profit. Board experience is a plus, but not required. We will ask that you demonstrate your love for the cemetery by consistently volunteering for at least a year before being elected to the board.
We are also looking for a volunteer coordinator if you like working with fun cemetery people.

Stone Photography: Working on their own schedule, volunteers receive an emailed assignment from the Project Coordinator to find and photograph, following a specific protocol, a set of gravestones among the roughly 4,000 markers in the cemetery. Photographers upload these digital images to a website. The Coordinator provides recommendations for successful results and is available for consultation and advice. Photographers determine how many assignments to complete in a season spanning May to October.

Research & Education Committee: is most active during winter months providing research for our Walk Among the Shadows event each October when “spirits” share their personal stories and entertain visitors on early evening tours. Members also recommend and contract with speakers for history-themed lectures in January, February, and March.

Feel free to bring us your ideas for volunteering! If you would like to help, please email us.