May 2020

Page B6 MAY 2020 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS S ec t i on B mymortuarycooler.com Are you state compliant? Unity Financial Life to make Donation to Meals On Wheels By Mike Jamar As mentioned last month, this column was supposed to be about a unique vehicle being used as a hearse. Well best laid plans did not factor in COVID-19. Hopefully by next month we will be back to somewhat normal and I will have the story. As some of you know I grew up in a small town in Kan- sas and still live there, although I swapped the small town for a suburb in Kansas City. At the writing of this article Kansas has 482 cases of COVID-19 and 11 deaths. The outbreak is mainly in major cities; Kansas City, Wich- ita, Topeka and Lawrence. These towns/cities are all in the eastern part of the state, with only a few outbreaks in Western Kansas. This is probably because western Kansas is made up of mainly small, somewhat isolated, towns. Now we are all under an order to “Stay at home” and many businesses have been forced to close their doors, in- cluding restaurants and bars. In the major cities that has happened. I wonder if that holds true for the small iso- lated towns in western Kansas. The reason I wonder harkens back to my college days. I attended Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kan- sas. Pittsburg is in the southeast corner of Kansas and has around 20,000 residents. I consider Pittsburg a small city, but the small towns I’m referring to in this article are those that have less than 1,000 residents. One semester to save money, I rented a place in a small town about 10 miles or so from Pittsburg. It was an old Italian community, with far less than 1,000 residents. It wasn’t near a major highway and you could only reach it by county roads. The town formed around the strip min- ing done in that area, but by the time I was there the strip mining was long over, and most of the strip mines had Here I am at 19 sitting in a 3.2 bar, and one of the few drinking beer. Now either everyone else was drinking wa- ter or soda, or something else was going on. It proved to be something else. Not to be overly interested, I watched the bartender out of the corner of my eye, mixing drinks from liquor bottles hiding under the bar. You may won- der why they were a 3.2 bar and not a private club. Well private clubs were more closely monitored by the state and had many more restrictions and reporting require- ments. The 3.2 bars were pretty much left alone. I mentioned earlier that this was an Italian community, and the Godfather movies had just come out. There were many stories floating around about people who would just turn up missing and just fell off the face of the earth, never to be seen again. Strip pits are deep, the water is very murky and there are hundreds of them, so my imag- ination decided it was in my best interest to just pretend, like everyone else, that this was a 3.2 bar. I spent many Saturdays in there having a beer and stopping to look ev- ery time a new face walked through the door. This is why I wonder what the small-town bars are do- ing today. I imagine from appearances that the bars are closed and locked up tight, but much like the speak eas- ies of years gone by, I bet if you knock at the locked door, and they know you, may be business as usual. This maybe fine for small isolated towns, but for the rest of us, please stay safe my friends. long ago filled up with water and were then called strip pits. This town, like most small towns, had a cafe and a bar on the main street. I don’t remember much about the cafe, but occasionally I would visit the bar on Saturday afternoons. If you have ever walked into a small-town bar, if you’re not a local, everyone will turn to look at you. This happened the first time I walked into that bar. As I opened the door, I could hear the buzzing of people talking, the clicking of glasses, and it all went quiet when I walked in. Like clock- work, everyone turned to look at me. This was not my first time walking into a small-town bar and I knew what to ex- pect. They would look at me, then turn back to what they were doing. However, this time the stares were a little longer and maybe more intense. I figured it was just my imagina- tion and took a seat at the bar. The bartender was a friendly guy and came down to chat with me. He asked who I was, why I was in town, what I did. It was a friendly conversation, but in some ways, it was more of an interrogation. I told him my name that I was a student at PSU and that my aunt and uncle lived in town. Once I mentioned my aunt and uncle, he became more friendly. The bar buzzing even picked up, perhaps they too were listening to this exchange. I ordered a beer, and as he should have, checked my ID. I was 19 at the time. I checked out, and he served me a beer. However, as I looked around only a few patrons were actu- ally drinking beer. At that time in Kansas they only had 3.2 bars and private clubs. The 3.2 bars were opened to anyone 18 years old and older, but they could only sell beer, and the beer had to have less than 3.2% alcohol. The private clubs required you to be 21 and to belong to the club and they could serve hard liquor. Mike Jamar is founder and co-owner of Advanced Integration Technology. Mike has been working with computers since the early 80s and started Advanced Integration in 1994. Advanced Integration specializes in Internet inventories designed for specialty vehicles and equipment. HearseHub was created through a collaboration between Advanced Integration and Nomis Publications, and is now in its fifth year of service. HearseHub brings together funeral vehicles from a number of dealerships that specialize in high quality funeral vehicles. HearseHub offers funeral directors a large, and easy to shop inventory, of funeral vehicles. You can reach him at Mike@AITAdvantage.com. FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS www.nomispublications.com Monthly Columns online at Security National Financial Corporation reports Financial Results for 2019 SALT LAKE CITY,UT— Security National Financial Corporation (SNFC) (NASDAQ: SNFCA) announced financial results for the year ended December 31, 2019. SNFC’s after-tax earnings from operations decreased 49.8% from $21,686,000 in 2018 to $10,894,000 in 2019, on a 1.2% increase in revenues to $283,061,000. Scott Quist , Chairman of the Board, President, and Chief Executive Officer of SNFC, said, “We are pleased with our operational performance in 2019. All of our business segments experienced significant and measur- able operational improvement in 2019. “In addition to the excellent operational performance in 2019, we were able to accomplish a significant acquisi- tion. In December we closed on the purchase of Kilpat- rick Life Insurance Company. “Of course, the world today is a much different place than it was in 2019, and much different even than it was a month ago. I believe our company has reactedwell to the tremendous challenges placed upon it and our staff over that last month. A month ago, we had probably 85-90% of our staff working in our offices, today, we have probably 20-25% working at our offices. The remaining approximately 75-80% are now working remotely from their homes. I am very proud of how quickly our IT staff was able to install such functionality. “We are fortunate that most, if not all, of our businesses to date have been considered not “non-essential”. However, even such formerly simple tasks as deed recordings and pro- fessional licensing have now become problematic. Tradition- ally a large percentage of our new customer sales activity has been consumer direct in-home sales. Such in-home transac- tions are becoming increasingly rare. We have reacted speed- ily with video and other remotely based sales presentation capabilities. The training of our sales force and the market ac- ceptance of such new sales methods remains to be seen. Even where there is consistent demand, such as in funeral servic- es, providing those services in today’s environment has been challenging. While it is hazardous to guess how long such conditions will linger it is nevertheless our job to understand and react to the present environment and continue to provide our needed services and products on a profitable basis.” Net earnings per common share was $0.60 for the twelve months ended December 31, 2019. Book value per common share was $10.86 as of December 31, 2019. Funeral Directors Life named as one of the Best Workplaces in Texas ABILENE,TX— Funeral Di- rectors Life was recently named as one of the 2020 Best Workplaces in Texas by Great Place to Work and For- tune . The 2020 Best Work- places in Texas list is made up of distinguished compa- nies ranging from small, me- dium, to large sizes. Funeral Directors Life was honored with the 26th spot for small and medium companies. Great Place to Work evalu- ated more than 60 elements of teammembers’ experience on the job. These included the extent to which employ- ees trust leaders, the respect with which people are treat- ed, the fairness of workplace decisions, and how much ca- maraderie there is among the team. Feedback from em- ployees was paramount in determining the finalists. “It is a tremendous honor to be recognized as one of the best workplaces in Tex- as,” said Kris Seale , Funer- al Directors Life President & CEO. “As a team, we as- pire to create a workplace that encourages leaders to grow, fosters a sense of com- munity, offers opportunities for learning and leadership development, and provides exceptional facilities, such as an onsite wellness clinic and fitness center. Above all else, we are motivated by a mis- sion that gives us a sense of purpose each day we step into the office. I am proud of our team and everything we have accomplished this year that has led us to this wonderful recognition.” Fu- neral Directors Life was also ranked as a Best Workplace in Texas in 2017, 2018, and 2019 by Great Place to Work and Fortune. Funeral Directors Life is a life insurance compa- ny which specializes in the sale of prepaid funeral in- surance policies and annui- ties. Our mission is “To be known as the best, most-re- spected provider of service to the funeral industry.” For more information about Fu- neral Directors Life, visit www.funeraldirectorslife.com. COVID-19 INDUSTRY RESPONSE to the Meals on Wheels America COVID-19 Response Fund. The first confirmed American case of Coronavirus was reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Preven- tion on January 20, 2020. National social distancing re- strictions went into effect March 16, 2020. Vulnerable seniors are at the greatest risk amid COVID-19. The Meals on Wheels America COVID-19 Response Fund helps local communities across the country meet the increased demand for nutritious meals that can keep our seniors safe and healthy. Donated funds will replen- ish food supplies, subsidize additional transportation and personnel costs, enable tech-based efforts to check in on isolated seniors and support timely distribution of sci- ence-based information needed to ensure safe care for all. Jay Hardy , CEO and President, Unity Financial Life said, “Beginning March 1, 2020 Unity Financial Life will donate $1.00 for every policy sold to Meals on Wheels America. This will continue for sixty days. This can trans- late into thousands of dollars for the care of our senior population. Local Meals on Wheels programs are on the front lines every day, focused on doing all they can to keep older Americans safe and nourished in communities across the country.” Unity Financial Life continues to be one of the fast- est growing national pre-need insurance and irrevocable funeral trust companies in America. Founded in 1964, Unity Financial Life is licensed in 48 jurisdictions, in- cluding the District of Columbia. The company can be reached on their website at www.uflife.com or by calling (877) 523-3231. CINCINNATI,OH— As CO- VID-19 (coronavirus) contin- ues to expand globally, Uni- ty Financial Life Insurance Company , headquartered in Cincinnati, announced they will be making a cash donation