A recent survey showed that three-quarters of Canadians over 35 have thought about their own funerals. Some had taken steps toward pre-planning, even if it was to address their preference of burial vs. cremation, making a will or completing a donor card. And for those who undertook some formal planning for their funerals, their motivations were driven by a need to reduce the emotional and financial burdens on their families.
Over the past nine years we have pre-arranged hundreds of funeral services here at the Blenheim Community Funeral Home and not once after a funeral have I heard a family say “I don’t know why Uncle Harry would have pre-arranged his funeral; that was really dumb”. Instead, the comments are quite the opposite. Family members are glad that Uncle Harry had the foresight to put all of his final wishes in writing. Let me dispel some common myths about pre-arranged funerals:
– Yes, you can change your mind regarding your wishes…any of them from the type of music you want to the Funeral Home you want to conduct your service from.
– Yes, you can pre-arrange your funeral service without any obligation to pre-pay the expenses.
– Yes, there were some changes that came into effect on July 1st of this year that affects pre-paid funeral contracts from that day on. However, old contracts still fall under the old rules.
– Yes, people still can live long healthy lives after they have pre-arranged their own funerals!
On Tuesday October 16th, Randy Churchill from Guaranteed Funeral Deposits came to the Blenheim Community Funeral Home and helped us out with a seminar on pre-planning. There were lots of great questions and we had some good snacks afterwards.
There’s no catch to our seminars…just come on out and hear what valuable information that we want to share with you. We don’t get you to fill out evaluation forms after so that we get your phone number and call you up to see if you want to pre-arrange your funeral. We just want you to be informed about as many topics as we can. And if you like us, maybe you’ll come back! Our next seminar will be on November 20, 2012 at 7 p.m. and we will discuss the Body Bequeathal Program at the University of Western Ontario (more commonly known as donating your body to science).
