Funeral homes are known for keeping both burial and community traditions alive. While these traditions may offer comfort and stability to some families, other families and funeral homes are seeking to bring new changes and activities to the funeral business. Funeral homes have heeded the call of these families and are beginning to seek out new, innovative ways to serve their communities and clients. These services range from interaction in their community itself, to even changing the way traditional funerals are held.
One way that funeral homes are changing the way they are perceived by the community is by choosing to interact with its members in different ways. Some funeral homes offer a variety of events that can be held in the home, for example hosting movie nights, death cafes, education classes etc. Some homes have created a more neutral look and built larger spaces in the home to accommodate weddings, banquets, meetings and other similar gatherings. Some clients of the funeral home have enjoyed utilizing this particularly for weddings because the homes are beautiful, classy, and they can be closer to deceased loved ones. The homes have even gone as far as hiring an event coordinator to ensure that the various events held there are successful and full of celebration. By offering multi-purpose homes, the funeral homes are also taking away the edge of sadness and mourning typically associated with them.
City View Memoriam and Senior Afternoon Tea
One funeral home that has chosen to go above and beyond in their community but still offer traditional services is City View Memoriam in Salt Lake City, Utah. The funeral home is a historically rich site that has been operating since 1931. Under new ownership who appreciates the home as a historical site and community emblem, the home is now known for its ardent support and interaction in its community. While City View Memoriam still supports traditional services, it holds different events at the site to involve its community members. Some unique events are family friendly, such as Halloween Trunk-or-Treats, Christmas parties with Santa and movie nights with provided popcorn. Other unique events target different community members, such as socials with afternoon tea for senior community members. The home even hosts service-oriented projects such as holding blood drives with the American Red Cross and food drives. The City View Memoriam is one fantastic example of ways that funeral homes can not only involve themselves in their community, but also change the ways people view funeral homes and the funeral business.
Wineries Cafes,and Grief Pets
Other funeral homes are choosing to revamp the ways they hold funerals completely. Their reasoning behind this—they want families to recognize the funerals as a celebration of life rather than just mourning a death. Different homes are going about this in various ways, such as building in-home amenities for the comfort of family members. These amenities include:
- Wineries
- Cafes
- Crematorium sitting rooms
- Grieving services such as libraries, food services, and even grief pets
The wineries and cafes in funeral homes are being offered as a way for families to gather and visit with one another in a comfortable and relaxed setting. The funeral homes that offer these services realize that funerals are one of the only times an entire family gathers together, so they felt it important that the family was able to do so in a comfortable setting.
Another service becoming popular in funeral homes is to offer crematorium sitting rooms for family members to wait with their deceased loved one during the cremation process. These rooms are comfortable with enough seating for the family members and areas for refreshments. The cremation areas help the family spend time with one another in a home-like setting as they say their final goodbye.
Grief Libraries, Drive Thru Service, and Food Service
Other grieving services are being utilized in funeral homes such as grief libraries. One funeral home has a free library which offers a variety of books including poetry, novels, and even picture books for children. The books are meant to be an easy way for grieving family members to find hope and comfort. Another funeral home started a food service business which ships frozen meals all over the United States to families who have recently experienced a loss. Lastly, one funeral home is even keeping a registered emotional support pet in their home to help comfort grieving families. The dog has been taught to recognize grief in people and how to comfort these individuals.
While many funeral homes are changing the ways that they interact with families during funerals and the services they offer, some are changing the ways the funeral services are offered altogether—with the goal being to suit the family’s needs. One home has offered a quite unique service of drive-thru viewings. While some may not necessarily agree with this, it is still a service that some families appreciate and utilize. Another unique twist on funeral services is to pose the deceased person in different life-like poses. They said that the goal with this is to help the families understand that a funeral is more a celebration of the person’s life. By posing the individual in different settings, it helps capture their personality, hobbies, and unique qualities that made them who they were.
Funeral Services and death care are constantly changing and evolving to match the needs of families and individuals all around the world. These are just a few of the innovative ways the industry is addressing various new needs. Do you know of any unique ways death care is moving in your area? Let us know.
Blog Resources
http://blog.funeralone.com/grow-your-business/10-funeral-homes-putting-fun-back-funerals/
https://abcnews.go.com/US/dead-people-life-poses-funerals/story?id=23456853