As the director of donor relations for the Saint Vincent de Paul Seattle King County, Richard Bray knows what a grave need there is for serving the poor.

What he couldn’t have know was that a pair of benefactors would donate cemetery plots for the cause.

St. Vincent de Paul now owns six burial sites at Bellevue’s Sunset Hills Memorial Park, thanks to two anonymous backers. All of the plots will be sold to benefit the organization.

“Unlike the items in our thrift stores, these haven’t been used,” Bray said.

Four of the grave sites are grouped together in Sunset Hills’ Garden of Rest, while the other two are side by side in Lincoln Garden – one of the most mature areas of the park.

Sunset Hills no longer has plots for sale in either of those sections, so there’s no telling what the sites could go for. The grave plots have a retail value of around $26,000 apiece, but similar sites have sold for much more.

“They can go for very heightened prices,” said Sunset Hills General Manager Arne Swanson. “This is just a wonderful act of generosity by some wonderful family. It’s really quite rare to see something like this.”

Sunset Hills offers sweeping views of downtown Bellevue, Seattle, and the Olympic Mountains. People with loved ones interred there often stay late into the day taking in twilight spectacles.

The grave-site donations came at a good time, according to Bray. St. Vincent de Paul is stretched these days providing struggling families with relief in the form of food, clothing, and a variety of services that range from rent assistance to budget counseling.

“The number of requests we’re getting is really high because of the recession,” Bray said. “There’s been an explosion of calls.”

St. Vincent de Paul has three Bellevue outreach centers located in Crossroads, Factoria, and downtown. The organization takes all variety of donations, including clothing, jewelry, money, and even excess inventory from businesses.

“We’re looking for any creative ways people can give to help their neighbors in need,” Bray said. “We’ll take a bag of clothes, somebody putting us in their will, and everything in between.”

To inquire about purchasing one of the St. Vincent de Paul grave sites, contact Richard Bray at 206-957-7241.