How to Create a Eulogy

In charge of planning a funeral? Here is a short video that gives the basics on creating a eulogy.

Online Chat With Funeral Directors

Ever had a question about caskets or cremation but were afraid to ask?

Walking into a funeral home to plan a loved one’s service can be a traumatic experience for grieving relatives.

A new offering from a Mississauga-based online discount funeral company aims to make the experience easier to handle. Basicfunerals.ca recently began offering live online chats with funeral directors. The free service is available seven days a week, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and is staffed by 2-5 funeral directors at any given time.

While some traditionalists might find the idea of speaking online to a stranger about something so intensely personal, company chairman Dominic Mazzone says it’s been a big hit so far.

“We’ve gotten a great response so far,’’ said Mazzone. In addition to avoiding the emotional trauma of a visit to a funeral home, the service is also more convenient for people who might otherwise not even be able to reach a local funeral director, Mazzone said. He pointed to one family in the U.K., who used the service to plan the funeral of an Ontario relative who had died.

Even a representative of the traditional funeral industry grudgingly admitted the new service wasn’t a bad idea.

“I think any way we can make people more comfortable and get them the information that they’re looking for is good,’’ said Suzanne Scott, executive director of the Funeral Service Association of Canada trade organization.

Basicfunerals.ca CEO Eric Vandermeersch is quick to point out that the funeral directors involved in the chat service aren’t working in some overseas call centre.

“They are all based in Ontario. These are real, licensed funeral directors,’’ said Vandermeersch.

Even though the live chat service is free for anyone visiting the company’s website, Mazzone isn’t concerned about people using it and taking their business elsewhere.

“If they went with a funeral home after using our site to get the information, they’d probably end up spending about double the money, so we’re not too worried that will happen,’’ said Mazzone.

The company, which was founded in 2009 as an alternative to traditional funeral homes, offers basic funeral services for as little as $1,800. In contrast, traditional funerals can sometimes cost as much as $10,000.

The discount sector is still a tiny portion of the market, Mazzone admitted, even though he says the company’s business has been growing at roughly 500 per cent per year. He estimates discount companies have less than one per cent of the funeral business in Canada.

“We’re still in the education phase of the business,’’ said Mazzone, who’s nonetheless expanding the company to Illinois starting later this month, and hopes to hit other parts of Canada later this year or in 2012.

Funeral Planning – Eco-friendly caskets and urns the latest in green funerals

Funeral Planning with Eco-friendly caskets

From recycled newspaper coffins that resemble space-age mummies to sea-salt urns that dissolve in hours if floated out to sea, green burial options will be among the most innovative products on the trade-show floor at the National Funeral Directors Association convention in New Orleans this week.

“It allows families to do something a little bit more meaningful with their last acts,” says Darren Crouch, president of Passages International, a company from Albuquerque, New Mexico, that specializes in eco-friendly funeral products for humans and pets.

“More and more people over the years, here and in Canada, have rejected traditional funerals. They don’t want the funerals they saw their parents and grandparents have.”

A key component of a green funeral is placing the body or cremated remains in a biodegradable container that will break down quickly without doing harm to the earth around it, he says. Crouch’s company sells wicker-like woven caskets made out of willow, bamboo and seagrass, along with urns made of rock salt, cornstarch, recycled paper and sand and gelatin.

The company also sells biodegradable urns and caskets for pets.

The Natural Burial Company of Eugene, Oregon, sells sleek, handmade recycled-paper Ecopod coffins in bright blue, red, green, white or metallic gold. The coffins, made by U.K.-based ARKA Ecopod Inc., can be screen-printed with images of doves, Aztec sun designs or Celtic crosses, and there’s an option to line the interior with red, white, cream or pale blue feathers.

“I like to say it’s the last thing you want to be seen in,” says general manager Cynthia Beal, laughing.

“The coffin is a package. It’s biodegradable packaging that makes it easy to handle us once we’ve died and we can be handled respectfully, we can be put in something beautiful. We can go back into the earth and return to the elements our bodies were made from in the beginning. It’s a complete circle.”

Canadian funeral homes lag slightly behind their U.S. counterparts in terms of green burial options, but she says interest is growing in Canada. David Garvie, general manager of Ogden Funeral Home in Scarborough, Ont., has been stocking woven coffins from Beal’s company for the past year and a half, and he says that while there’s been plenty of “talk interest” — particularly from younger adults — he has yet to sell one of the eco-friendly vessels.

“I said to my staff, ‘Look, we’re going to be on the cutting edge and presenting some concepts that are ahead of their time,’ but I’d rather the funeral home be on that cutting edge and being prepared, rather than catching up,” he says.

While interest in green funeral options is growing rapidly — Crouch says his business has swelled 30 per cent a year since his company was founded in 1999 — funeral directors say this trend is really a throwback to centuries past.

“What we’ve done as a business has always been of a green nature: burying the dead, returning them to the earth. This isn’t anything new; we’ve been doing it for millions of years,” says James Olson, funeral director and owner of the Lippert-Olson Funeral Home in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. “What we’re doing is kind of just going back to some simpler ways, the way we used to do it.”

Olson is a spokesman and resident expert on green funeral options for the National Funeral Directors Association, which represents 19,000 individual members from more than 10,200 funeral homes in the U.S., Canada and internationally. On Tuesday at the convention, he’ll present a seminar entitled, It IS Easy Being Green.

The simplest type of green funeral is simply wrapping a body in a shroud and placing it in the ground without any embalming, casket or burial vault encasing the casket, he says — a practice with a long historical precedent that’s still prominent in some cultures. Families might opt for embalming with formaldehyde-free products that are more and more widely available, he says, or they might choose a vault that allows earth to seep in, a biodegradable casket or any other combination of elements.

“Funeral directors are going to do whatever a family wants, as long as it’s possible – or legal, I should say,” Olson says. “That’s our goal and what we do – as service providers to families in a time of need, we’re there to fulfil their requests to make a meaningful funeral for their loved one.”

Most cemeteries don’t allow “direct burials” in which a body is simply interred in the ground, he says, primarily because the ground may sink as graves settle without a burial vault to provide structure. However, he says, there are a handful of “conservation cemeteries” popping up in the U.S., where shallow direct-burial graves are dug by hand and GPS co-ordinates take the place of grave-markers that would mar the landscape.

And some traditional cemeteries are starting to offer small green sections, where more flexible earth-friendly options are available, Olson adds.

“You listen to a eulogy and it strives to recap the highlights of a person’s life,” says Beal. “One of the most important things a person can express in their life are their values, and the value of caring for the world you lived in and leaving a mark of respect as you travel through your life is something that gets carried through even at the final moment.”

Funeral Planning Made Easy – 10 Tips Revealed

1. Keep a registry that details all your important documents.

This can be a journal (notebook) or a file on your computer that is a record of all your funeral planning. Cremation or burial preferences, whether you would like to donate your organs, all insurance policies, your veterans information, where your will is located who has access to your safe deposit boxes and where they are, along with other estate planning info and make sure this book or file is easy to find.

2. You Gotta Tell Somebody…

Especially the person who is designated the “go to” person who will handle all those affairs when you pass on. Draft a document (other than your will) that gives your loved ones a general idea of your wishes.

3. Who Ya Gonna Call?

Make it absolutely clear which funeral home to contact and which services you want. This will prevent any confusion about how much money to spend and eliminate unnecessary expenses that may be incurred. When selecting your funeral home or care provider consider their reputation and longevity of the business for the future. Will they still be in business when you require their services? Most often price and location are the main deciding factors when deciding. Don’t fall into that trap. A good way to find a reputable funeral home is become a member of a memorial society.

4. Educate yourself regarding cremation and burial expenses

Know “how much these things should cost” before you talk to any service provider. What is included in “basic” services. Get an idea of the price of merchandise. Hidden costs quickly add to the final price. For example: what will extra copies of death certificates cost, transportation fees, storage costs, charges for administration, etc.

5. Who will look after you? (if you are unable?)

Make your health care decisions while you are of sound mind. Don’t let someone make them for you. Talk to your family physician and your lawyer. Get them down in writing and make it part of your “registry” . Appoint a power of attorney and make a living will. If it is your desire, get a Do Not Resuscitate Order drawn up. Your health care provider or attorney can assist you in obtaining these forms and advise you where to file copies. Make copies for yourself and family as well.

6. Appoint a financial planner

In the event that you cannot take care of your own financial affairs you should appoint a financial planner. A General and Durable Power of Attorney will allow a trusted friend or family member to  to manage your financial affairs. By setting up a living trust and designating a trustee you can have your property taken care of. The fore mentioned articles may help to avoid the expense and trouble of having the court designate a Legal Guardian if you become disabled. Check with your local seniors resource center to see if they may have a workshop that covers this topic. They often have other resources for funeral planning.

7. Have a memorial service without the body present

Consider direct cremation or direct burial to avoid the expense of having a body embalmed and to avoid the need for an expensive casket. Following the cremation or burial, the family should be encouraged to hold a simple memorial service in a home, place of worship or community hall. A memorial service will give everyone a time to share memories and share support for each other.

8.Investigate pre-paid funeral plans

Don’t jump into one because your chosen funeral home suggests you should. Although it is the ultimate Funeral Planning Made Easy, funeral homes make the bulk of their income from pre need sales. The sales people are well paid, most are honest, but consider what will happen to your money in the future.  For someone that is terminally ill or living on borrowed time, it makes perfect sense. For others it may not be the best choice. Consider the following:

• The cost of paying in advance as compared to paying at death, will you lose any investment income from the money spent?
• The possibility that the funeral home may go out of business or be bought out by another company.
• If you move to another area of the country, what happens to your arrangements. Can they be transferred?
• Make sure that friends or family know about your pre arrangements. Make sure at least two other people know about your arrangements and have documents that demonstrate exactly what you paid for and have the ability to make sure the contract is carried out in full.
• Will the prices change in the future or are they frozen at the rate you paid.
• Does the package have everything that you need or does is it complete. Are there alternatives that will be  less money? Get a complete detailed list of the package to comparison shop.
• Does the funeral home provide you with a complete copy and one for your loved ones so that everyone will know what you have selected.
• The first rule in finances is “pay yourself first” Having said that consider setting up a fund that you pay into strictly for your final arrangements. This way you have complete control and can earn interest on your money.

9. Sign a Disposition Authorization form before you die

If the state you live in allows it, specify in writing whether you are choosing burial or cremation and authorize the funeral home to implement your wishes without further authorization. In some states, you can also appoint the person authorized to pick up cremated remains. File this form with your important documents and ensure someone else has a copy and also knows the location of the original. The original document will need to be presented to the funeral home at the time of death. The next of kin must sign the documents if  if cremation is desired and the documents have not been signed prior to death. This usually requires the signature of the spouse and all the surviving children. Having the DIsposition Authorization properly signed and notarized before death occurs can save the survivors time and stress and ensure that your final wishes are carried out.

10. Investigate joining  a funeral consumers organization

Most memorial societies or organizations were founded to educate people to to make cost effective sensible funeral planning. Not all societies are equal. Some have gotten lazy over the years. A good society should be able to assist members in making all their final arrangements and obtain good prices for funeral arrangements and cremation services.

Funeral planning – Home Funerals emerging in Canada

Funeral planning is beginning to include home funerals. The Toronto Globe and Mail published this article about home funerals in Canada.  The trend is growing as the baby boomer generation moves toward more green and personalized alternatives to the standard funeral. I was interested to find out that there is a home funeral society in the British Columbia Kootney district in Canada. If you know of any others in Canada please let me know, I am compiling a list.

by Adriana Barton
From Tuesday’s Globe and Mail Published on Tuesday, Apr. 20, 2010

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