This is part two of my musings on funeral lunches…I was worried last week that you might think I was downplaying funeral lunches but the feedback that I received said the opposite. To have or not have a funeral lunch is just one of the many options that I will review with you when you are making funeral arrangements.
When Jim and I were planning the Funeral Home, the second part of the conversation we had about funeral lunches was that we would provide the opportunity for families to have a lunch here at the Funeral Home if that is what they wanted and that we would also provide the food if that is what they wanted. However, we made a conscious decision that we would not become competition to those individuals or groups or facilities that already provide those services. That decision was affirmed to me when Annie Timmermans gave me a tour of the new St. Mary’s Hall and again last week when Gail and I went to the dinner at the Golf Course…those businesses provide funeral lunches and they need to be successful too because when businesses are successful, communities are successful.
There are a lot of ways to have a funeral lunch and I’ve seen many of them (except for the hotdogs over the bonfire that you’ll get at my funeral). And since we allow families to charge everything on their funeral account, I see what funeral lunches cost. If you are a Veteran, the Blenheim Legion will provide your funeral lunch at no cost. Following that, Church groups provide the most inexpensive lunches, generally because the food is donated by members. Some churches charge $4.00 per person for lunches. Some churches save the grocery receipts that we pay for and then make a donation to the church group if that is the family’s wish…that may cost around $5.00 per person plus the donation. Finally, I have paid between $7.00 and $11.00 to have a caterer provide a funeral lunch. The choice is yours.
