When people ask me how I came up with this idea
The reaction is always the same — Shock, Disbelief, then Amazement that something so simple could be the answer to making funerals free again. I asked God to help me make funerals free. He told me to crowd-fund land and dig our own holes, like our ancestors taught us.
“I’m Cheri Wallace. I volunteered for this without knowing how hard it would be — on a shoestring budget, without a degree in websites, nonprofits, foundations, grant writing, petition writing, or marketing, as a self-described introvert in a tiny town so small it’s named Littleton, North Carolina. I felt like the “cry widow” in the book of Luke but I have influenced thousands of people to reclaim their death rites and make their future funerals free.
My only qualification to be here was that I asked God, and God answered. So I took courses to learn the legal side of home funerals and private-land burials and I studied laws legislation and the green side of funerals. I realized there are no options for the truly poor.
I created Hosanna High to answer the widow’s cry — the cry to make funerals affordable for every family. I wrote a nine-point petition to fix the cost of dying challenging your local and state government. You can join for membership and sign our Death Rites Petition here: https://letsbetrees.org/9-point-petition-to-reclaim-our-death-rites/
I want to make it so easy for the 70% with no funeral plan that joining feels like the obvious choice. A $100 cemetery and a plan — that’s all it takes. If you can see your own future clearly, you won’t want to skip THIS CEMETERY SOCIETY.
If you follow me RIP can be FREE.
We do this in honor of my grandparents, John and Margaret Ellen Wallace (RIP). In 1950, grandmother was pregnant with their thirteenth child when grandpa died. With nothing left to pay the funeral bill, the director took the family truck — a 1947 Ford — leaving my grandmother and 13 children walking. This is our motivation and license for being here.
It is the honor of my life to fix this broken system, because Rest In Peace is a God Given Rite that should not cripple our lives. With no way to get to town, my father was 5, his two youngest sisters we given to other families to raise. All of the boys were recruited in the service by their 15th birthday to send home support. Its been 75 years, this system will not fix itself we must create our own funerals. Crowd fund land with neighbors, have it surveyed for a cemetery, return to home/church/graveside services, dig your own graves.
We will do better than some directors and grave keepers.
Our Treasurer is my dear friend Kim Cowan. She’s been our biggest supporter and a true godsend — I used her lake house as my refuge while I learned not to flinch at rebuffs from the industry and skeptics, all while gathering our nonprofit designation, building a website, starting petitions, collecting facts and signatures, bringing on seven interns, winning two major grants, and getting crypto certified. Behind a locked gate in a quiet cove among abundant wildlife, my refuge during COVID couldn’t have been more perfect.
Kim became a board member because she believes in ending funeral poverty for the masses. She spent her life in Virginia Beach, as a barber, a dive instructor, and the last twenty years in radiology for Sentara. Shout out to Kim for twenty years of service, straight through COVID.
Aaron Sizemore is a lifelong commercial farmer with a specialty in cannabis legislation and the proven health benefits and its superior quality in manufacturing. He has traveled the world meeting other farmers and studied with some of the most influential voices working to bring common-sense legislation to the industry.
Aaron is leading our effort to ask farmers to donate appropriate land to communities — the Who Wants to Be a Saint? campaign. If you’d like to be a saint to your community by donating land or including us in your estate plan, please reach out using the form below.
Michael Savage is an award-winning actor and filmmaker whose career spans Hollywood and the stage. A graduate of SUNY Purchase with a BFA in Theatre Arts, he appeared on General Hospital as Vince and on Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and shared an honorary Tony Award as an alumnus of the Juilliard Acting Company — the honor that gave him his name SirTony.
He founded The Total Workshop for Acting in 1998, where he has taught hundreds of actors the craft, and pioneered the short audition film — shooting actors on camera so they could send their work directly to the studios. He has directed and produced dozens of award-winning short films, including The River of Life, and his mission is simple: ‘Where the actors are the special effects.‘
His creativity will give life to our idea to give our members a place to leave their parting words of eternal advice — a living record of wisdom passed down for the generations to come. A river of life flowing forward: each voice a stone in the water, each word a gift to those who follow.
Contact us using the form below if you’d like to leave your own words of wisdom for the future of mankind.
This space could be reserved for YOU. Please consider a formal role in making the future of funerals free.
