For Immediate Release: April 3, 2020

Brookfield, Wis. – The National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) and the Funeral Service Foundation are delighted to announce their lead contributions totaling $250,000 to the Foundation’s newly-announced COVID-19 Crisis Response Fund, which will help funeral service professionals and organizations working throughout the country in areas that are disproportionately impacted by the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

NFDA’s lead gift of $50,000 on behalf of its members and the Foundation’s $200,000 allocation will go a long way toward ensuring funeral professionals have the resources they need to respond to the needs of families and communities.

“Funeral directors are on the front lines of this pandemic, working to ensure everyone who dies is cared for with respect and dignity,” said NFDA President R. Bryant Hightower Jr., CFSP. “NFDA is proud to support their heroic efforts with this gift. We also recognize the significant impact that limited funerals and delayed services have on families’ grief journey. We are pleased that our gift will help bolster resources to help families heal during this time of uncertainty.”

"The Foundation's Board of Trustees launched this fund with the understanding that funeral service is already responding to the crisis in a big way and will need tremendous support to continue to do so effectively," said Foundation Chair Anthony Guerra of Guerra & Gutierrez Mortuaries in Los Angeles. “The Foundation’s Crisis Fund allocation underscores our enduring commitment to all of funeral service.”

About the COVID-19 Crisis Response Fund

The COVID-19 Crisis Response Fund has two pillars of support: emergency assistance and grief support. Designed to be flexible, the fund will provide grants for immediate needs within funeral service including emergency response to significant loss of life; grants to organizations providing services and resources to families with unresolved and complicated grief due to loss during this crisis; and grants for other important needs as funeral service continues to serve families during this rapidly evolving crisis.

The Foundation expects to announce details on how to apply for grants from the COVID-19 Crisis Response Fund in the coming days.

The Foundation is counting on the funeral service community to respond generously and help at this unprecedented time of need and uncertainty. One-time or monthly gifts at every level can be made online at www.FuneralServiceFoundation.org. Those interested in supporting may also send checks, made payable to the Funeral Service Foundation to the FSF COVID-19 Crisis Response Fund, 13625 Bishop’s Drive, Brookfield, WI 53005, or call 1-262-814-1549 to make a gift by phone.

About NFDA – www.nfda.org

NFDA is the world’s leading and largest funeral service association, serving more than 20,000 individual members who represent nearly 11,000 funeral homes in the United States and 49 countries around the world. NFDA is the trusted leader, beacon for ethics and the strongest advocate for the profession. NFDA is the association of choice because it offers funeral professionals comprehensive educational resources, tools to manage successful businesses, guidance to become pillars in their communities and the expertise to foster future generations of funeral professionals. NFDA is headquartered in Brookfield, Wis., and has an office in Washington, D.C.

About the Funeral Service Foundation – www.FuneralServiceFoundation.org

Since 1945, the Funeral Service Foundation has served as the profession’s philanthropic voice. As the charitable arm of the National Funeral Directors Association since 1997, the Foundation receives operational support from NFDA and donors across the profession to help advance its mission to support funeral service in building meaningful relationships with the families and the communities it serves.

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Contacts:

NFDA: Jessica Koth, 262-814-1536, jkoth@nfda.org

Funeral Service Foundation: Kelly Manion, 262-814-1574, kmanion@funeralservicefoundation.org