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For Immediate Release: August 19, 2024

Brookfield, Wis. - The National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA), through its consumer education initiative Remembering A Life, has developed an updated idea guide for funeral professionals to help them even better serve families at the end of life. 

Remembering A Life, through its website (RememberingALife.com), podcast, blog, conversation/activity cards, suggested reading, consumer brochures and other resources, educates people about the importance of remembering loved ones in meaningful ways. These resources help families navigate the unique end-of-life challenges but are also available for funeral professionals who want to help the people they serve understand their options, inspire conversations about how they want to be remembered, and introduce family and friends to helpful grief resources. They can easily be integrated into a funeral director’s practice and service to families.

The new, free Remembering A Life Idea Guide for Funeral Professionals makes it easy to connect with families and communities with:

• Inspiration for using Remembering A Life tools and resources, including the Remembering A Life website, podcast, blog, conversation cards and brochures, to better serve families and individuals who are saying goodbye to a loved one.
• Ideas for inspiring conversations about life, death and how we want to be remembered.
• Ideas for inviting members of the community to have meaningful conversations about end-of-life through workshops and open houses.
• Ideas for holding community-wide remembrance events.
• An event planning worksheet.
• Inspiration for collaborating with other end-of-life professionals to better serve families.

Remembering A Life resources cover a wide range of topics, including planning a meaningful service, cremation, embalming, coping after loss, navigating the death of a child, youth and funerals, and options such as green funerals and natural burial. They also help people understand all their options, start meaningful conversations with loved ones, plan a meaningful tribute and navigate the grief journey.

“Accepting loss and moving forward in grief is a unique process for every individual, and funeral professionals play an important role in helping people navigate this complex journey,” said Gail Marquardt, NFDA vice president, Consumer Engagement. “Whether funeral professionals want to ensure families know about all of their options, or inspire families to have conversations about death, dying and how they want to be remembered, the Remembering A Life Idea Guide has the tools and resources they need to help friends and family during the most difficult times.” 

The Remembering A Life Idea Guide is available for free as a download or hard copy by visiting NFDA.org/RememberingALife.

About the National Funeral Directors Association

NFDA is the world's leading and largest funeral service association representing 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. For more information, visit NFDA.org.

About Remembering A Life

Remembering A Life helps individuals and families remember their loved ones in meaningful ways, helping to keep the memory of loved ones alive and assisting family members and friends in moving forward in their grief. Remembering A Life educates families about the value of a funeral and helps them find an NFDA-member funeral director (RememberingALife.com/FindAFuneralHome) to help them create a meaningful service. The initiative also helps them as they begin the grief journey following the death of a loved one. Resources include the Remembering A Life website (RememberingALife.com), a podcast, book club, blog, conversation cards and thoughtful gifts for grieving family members and friends. Remembering A Life is a consumer education initiative of the National Funeral Directors Association. Follow Remembering A Life on Facebook and Instagram.

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