Notes from the Pyre

Why volunteer with CEOLP? Amy Griffin

By Gussie Fauntleroy.

Volunteers play a vital role in the continued success of the Crestone End of Life Project (CEOLP). There are many ways volunteers contribute to the activities needed to make an open-air cremation or natural burial happen. While motivation for volunteering may vary, all agree that what they do is immensely meaningful and sacred. 

In the following months, we’ll be doing a periodic Q&A with CEOLP volunteers to share their thoughts on the roles they’re involved with and what it means to them. In this issue, we introduce Amy Griffin, a dedicated volunteer who is a recent transplant to Crestone.

You can learn more about volunteering and the services they provide by visiting www.crestoneendoflifeproject.org and CEOLP’s sister organization, Informed Final Choices www.informedfinalchoices.org.

What volunteer role(s) do you take part in with CEOLP? 

I help with parking.

About how long have you been volunteering? 

I’ve been volunteering for about a year and a half.

What first motivated you to become involved?

I first learned about CEOLP as I was researching Crestone before I moved here. As an amateur anthropologist at heart, I’m interested in cultural traditions and how different communities support one another during the end of life. From New Orleans Jazz Funerals to Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) and beyond, our communities play a significant role in shaping how we approach death and dying. CEOLP is a truly unique resource and I wanted to show my support by volunteering.

What’s most important and meaningful to you about it?

I appreciate CEOLP’s holistic approach to end-of-life care, one that honors both the dead and our living environment with sustainable burial and cremation options. I’m also grateful to CEOLP for providing a communal framework for compassion, empathy, and understanding to help navigate end-of-life transitions together. I believe that a healthy approach to death and dying gives us a greater appreciation of the here and now, and in that way CEOLP deeply enriches the lives of the Crestone community.

What do you enjoy about it?

Volunteering helped me get to know some of the most amazing people in my new hometown!

Is there anything that has challenged you about it, and if so, how has that helped you know yourself better or grow?

The most challenging part of being on the parking team is showing up before the sun rises, sometimes in freezing temperatures. But when I see the community come together to pay respect to a life in one of the most beautiful settings on earth, I feel honored to be able to play a small part in that ceremony. 

It’s taught me that it takes a great many people to make it happen, and every job is challenging and needed.