Night Of The Living Dead Fans Try To Rescue Cemetery Chapel Featured In The Film

The New York Times blog has a short piece about efforts to save the decaying chapel at the Evans City Cemetery. $50,000 is needed by next year, a very steep amount for a Butler county town with around 2000 residents. So far $7000 has been raised.

Ron Volz, the president of the cemetery association, praised the efforts of Gary Streiner and other like-minded “Living Dead” fans to keep the chapel standing.

“He’s come up with great ideas to raise money, but 50 grand is going to be tough to raise, I think,” Mr. Volz said. “But if he gets zombies from all over the United States to contribute … he can raise it.”

.

The Post has a more in depth article.

Mr. Streiner said that he hopes to restore the chapel just as it always was -- no running water, no electricity, no gas hookup, just a potbellied stove. He hopes that it can be rented out for use at events such as zombie-themed weddings or graduation parties and maybe even function as a mini-museum.

Mr. Streiner considers himself blown away by the response from fans and the fundraising success thus far. Fundraising efforts on the group's website, www.fixthechapel.com, are just getting under way.

Posters designed by one Facebook group member are already for sale online and Mr. Streiner expects T-shirts to be available soon -- in time for the holiday season. A movie screening and benefit will be held in San Francisco in early December; there will be appearances on Internet radio shows.

To help visit, Fixthechapel.com

Facebook Group