First I want to remind you that the Blenheim Community Funeral Home will be placing a Christmas Memorial Tree at the Post Office in Blenheim again this year. We will be placing an ornament on the tree for each family that we have served and for anyone else who would like an ornament placed on the tree in memory of a loved one. There is no charge for this, rather it is one of the community services that we provide. If you would like an ornament placed, simply call us and we will do that for you. Or you can place your own ornament on the tree since it is meant to be for the surrounding communities regardless of who your Funeral Service provider was. We will be lighting the tree on the night of the Santa Claus Parade in Blenheim which is Friday December 3, 2010. (A couple of months ago I took a course about human behavior and learned that you need to repeat things to people between 14 and 19 times before they remember, so forgive me but I will repeat this message again next week!)
According to the Polara Report that I wrote about that surveyed Canadians about their knowledge and attitudes toward funerals and the funeral industry, only 8% of the respondents reported having a negative experience organizing a funeral. Of those, about one in five attributed this to the financial burden associated with the funeral as well as the poor service received. This is the next part of the report that I will write about but it will take a few weeks.
When arranging a Funeral Service, there are three main expenses. First the Funeral Home has its own service charge, secondly there is a charge for a casket, container or other supplies and thirdly there are disbursements that we make on your behalf; costs that we have no control over. Next week I will talk about Funeral Home service charges and options.
