A young man in Otsego, Michigan, is working hard to ensure his local cemeteries are spotless.
Eighth grader Navene Town loves cleaning headstones and a few years ago turned his passion into a business called Navene Cleans Headstones, WZZM reported Wednesday.
His business idea was born when he began a family tree project and found his five-times great uncle’s grave which made him think, “No one should have that dirty of a headstone,” he recalled.
The boy has cleaned almost 150 headstones and charges $20 for one job. However, he does the work for veterans’ families at no charge.
Video footage from 2019 shows him scrubbing, washing, and scraping.
“Navene’s unusual like his name. He doesn’t really think about what other people think about it,” Sherrie Town, his grandmother, said at the time:
“It’s very fun seeing the dirty become clean, and I get to learn history about my family tree,” Navene said.
To learn more about his craft, Navene took classes and got certified so he would know exactly how its done and have the correct skills to avoid damaging someone’s headstone.
In a social media post on April 28, Navene shared photos of himself during a special event that highlighted what he loves doing for the community.
“I’ve wanted to present at my elementary school career day since I first started my business. Today it finally happened! Even got a picture with my 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Michelle Holmes who assigned the family tree project that started it all. Thank you Mrs Jennifer Knight for making it happen!! I love WSE!” he wrote:
More video footage shows before and after images of Navene with several headstones:
The young entrepreneur has saved some of the money he has made but also donated a portion. He plans on continuing the business and hopes others will consider starting their own.
“Anyone can start a business whenever they want to. You just need to have a good idea,” Navene stated.
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