Service 04 · $240 a year · ongoing
An ocean away, a grave grows over in a decade.
Somebody used to do this. A sister, a cousin, a neighbour — and then they died or moved to Lviv, and the grass came in. This is the smallest thing we do and the one families come back to us for, year after year.
What happens, and what you receive
Two visits a year as standard, at the times that matter locally rather than at random. You are sent photographs after each one, whether or not you asked.
- Spring tidying: winter growth cleared, the headstone washed, the plot edged
- Flowers laid on Provody — the remembrance Sunday after Easter, when the whole village is at the cemetery
- Autumn tidying before the first frost
- A photo report to your inbox after every visit, dated, showing the grave before and after
- A candle lit on the day you name — a birthday, a death anniversary, whatever your family keeps
- Repairs, restoration or a new inscription quoted separately, only if you ask for them
How it works
- First we find the grave
- Village cemeteries are rarely mapped and often overgrown. If you do not know exactly where the grave is, locating it is the first visit — reading half-eroded inscriptions, asking the caretaker, asking the oldest neighbour. Sometimes it takes two trips.
- Then we photograph the inscription properly
- Before anything is cleaned, the stone is recorded. Where the lettering is far gone, we can scan it photogrammetrically — the same technique the founder's heritage NGO has used on church sculpture since 2016 — and a scan reads a worn inscription better than an eye at the graveside.
- Then it is simply kept
- Twice a year, on schedule, without you having to ask or remind. If the grave needs something structural, you get photographs and a quote, and nothing happens until you say yes.
Price: $240 a year — and what sits outside it
- The first search, if the grave's location is unknown, is quoted separately — usually one visit's work
- Villages more than two hours' drive from Ternopil carry a small travel supplement
- More than two visits a year, or a specific date you want kept, is priced per visit
- Headstone repair, re-lettering and restoration are quoted individually, with photographs, before anything is touched
Paid yearly, cancel whenever you like — there is no notice period and no rolling contract you have to escape. If we cannot reach the cemetery in a given season, that visit is refunded rather than quietly skipped.
This is right for you if
- There is a family grave in western Ukraine and nobody left nearby to tend it
- You are too old or too unwell to travel, and it weighs on you
- You want your parents' grave kept after they have gone, from another continent
- You want to start small with us before commissioning anything larger
It is not right if
- The grave lies east or south of the regions we work in — we will not send anyone there, at any price
- You want the grave moved or exhumed: that is a legal process we do not undertake
Questions about grave care
How much does grave care in Ukraine cost?
$240 a year for two tended visits — spring and autumn — flowers laid on Provody, and a dated photo report after each visit. Finding a grave whose location is unknown is quoted separately, and repairs are always quoted individually before anything is touched.
What if we do not know where the grave is?
That is common, and it is the first piece of work rather than an obstacle. We read what is legible, ask the cemetery caretaker and the oldest neighbours, and check parish burial records where they survive. Sometimes it takes two visits; occasionally the stone is gone entirely, and we tell you that plainly.
What is Provody?
The remembrance Sunday after Easter, when families across western Ukraine go to the cemetery together, tidy the graves and eat beside them. It is the day a neglected grave is most visible to the whole village — which is exactly why we make sure yours is not one of them.
Can you restore a headstone that is falling apart?
Often, yes — but never on our own initiative. You receive photographs, an assessment and a separate quote, and nothing is touched until you approve it. For inscriptions that are nearly gone, a photogrammetric scan preserves what is left before any cleaning begins.
The rest of the ladder
You can start anywhere on it, and stop after any step.
Somebody used to do this. Then they stopped, and nobody told you.
Tell us the village and the family name. We will find the grave, photograph what is there today, and tell you what keeping it would involve.