MELBOURNE, Fla. — A 1912 cemetery established by the African American community, in need of TLC, celebrated a new beginning.

Dozens of people showed up Monday to the rededication ceremony for Shady Oaks Cemetery, also known as JN Tuckey Memorial Cemetery, in Melbourne.

Among them was Rev. Lorenzo Laws, who has family buried there. Laws says the efforts of resident Michael Cheek, who pushed to restore the cemetery, helped him connect with his past.

“I'm standing on holy grounds, I do have a lot of family that's here, Laws said, pointing out one family member buried there, Rev. EC Laws. "I see why I'm a reverend. By my understanding he started the Baptist church here.”

We introduced you to Cheek back in January. Cheek began working on the cemetery in December, organizing cleanups and uncovering many graves.

Cheek said it all started very random. He was driving past the cemetery and something made him pull over and check out the place. That's when he decided to do what he could to clean up the place.

Also, there were some homeless people camping out at night. By cleaning up the vegetation and debris, Cheek says that's no longer a problem.

“For respect of the veterans out here, the place was in bad shape. People just forgot about it and I was determined to take care of the veterans and the other people out here too,” Cheek explained.

Cheek, along with his friends and spouses, started a nonprofit in March called Veteran Cemetery Restorations, Inc to continue restoring other cemeteries.

The family the cemetery is named after was also at the rededication ceremony. Leon Alexander Tucker says it's been in his family for 94 years.

“As long as they've been in Melbourne when they came to the area in 1925,” Tucker said. He said he's thankful the community helped restore the place.

Shady Oaks Cemetery is the final resting place for more than 33 veterans and 261 non-veterans from the African American community, who were the original Eau Gallie settlers.