December 2021

Page A39 DECEMBER 2021 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS Se c t i on A Bob Arrington Ross Buntrock NASHVILLE,TN— Bob Arrington, owner of Arrington Funeral Directors in Jackson, TN has seen two trends ac- celerate in recent years that are changing the way families honor a deceased loved one. One, the cost of newspaper obitu- aries keeps going up even though news- paper circulations are going down. Two, people increasingly prefer to donate to charitable organizations in lieu of send- ing flowers to a funeral. OnOctober 17, Arrington introduced ity. It’s completely turnkey.” In addition to saving families money and helping charitable organizations to increase their funding, ObituaryShare.com makes it more likely that an obituary will be seen by people who knew the deceased person. “When you publish an obituary in a news- paper, it’s only widely available for one day. But an ObituaryShare.com obituary re- mains online forever, and it finds you, be- cause we promote it to affinity groups on social media that relate to the deceased’s in- terests,” Arrington said. “For example, we recently published the obituary of a past president of the Tennessee Tire Dealers As- sociation whose wife is a well-known real- tor and whose daughter-in-law is an officer in the Tennessee Bankers Association. We presented the obituary to all three of these interest groups on social media and it was read by over 16,000 people — considerably more than the 10,000 readers of our local newspaper. Plus, the family saved several hundred dollars compared to the cost of a traditional newspaper obituary.” In addition to allowing funeral homes to better serve grieving families, Obitu- aryShare.com has been shown to increase funeral home market share because of the visibility it provides. “Our funeral home’s Facebook following has grown from about 400 to over 3,000 in the two years that we have been testing ObituaryShare.com, and our market share has increased significantly,” Arrington said. “This technology helps families pay tribute to their loved ones more effectively and less expensively, while also benefiting the non- profit community and funeral homes. We are honored to bring this revolutionary new product to the funeral industry.” Founded as an affordable solution to the rising costs of newspaper obituaries and de- creasing newspaper circulation, Obitu- aryShare.com is an online obituary source built for funeral homes and families to deliv- er obituary information in a personalized and timely manner to a larger and more appro- priate audience compared to traditional print publications. Through multiple social media platforms, coupled with geographical and biographical targeting, ObituaryShare.com is able to reach a large, targeted audience of individuals most likely to have a connection with the deceased. For more information, contact Bob Arrington, barrington@afge- mail.com, 731-467-2636, or Roy Heather- ly, rheatherly54@gmail.com, 318-914-0764. Generous is on a mission to make giv- ing easier by offering simplified solutions to donate anywhere online. Generous cre- ates frictionless charitable giving opportu- nities for donors, while empowering busi- nesses to grow their bottom line and engage their customers through charitable giving. The Generous team is a mix of entrepre- neurs, engineers, techies, creative thinkers, dreamers and do-gooders who are constant- ly seeking to create opportunities for social impact across the web. For more informa- tion, contact Lauren Guetz, chief revenue officer, Lauren.Guetz@joingenerous.com or visit www.joingenerous.com . new technology to solve both of these issues. He unveiled his obituary publishing product, ObituaryShare.com in Nashville during the world’s largest conference of funeral home di- rectors, the National Funeral Directors Associ- ation International Convention & Expo . Two years in development, ObituaryShare. com will allow grieving families to easily and inexpensively publish an obituary that reaches thousands — equaling if not ex- ceeding the audience of a traditional news- paper obituary. This technology also makes it simple and quick for anyone to make a donation in honor of the deceased person. “When we saw the circulation of newspa- pers continue to decline while the reach of social media rocketed up, we realized that the future of publishing obituaries lies with social media,” Arrington said. “That’s why we created ObituaryShare.com, which al- lows funeral homes to easily publish obit- uaries on Facebook and Instagram and po- tentially reach more people than newspapers at a fraction of the cost. And, thanks to our partnership with Generous — a Nashville- based donations technology platform— ev- ery ObituaryShare.com obituary can incor- porate a clickable link for readers to make a charitable donation in the deceased’s name.” Families can share their loved one’s obit- uary on ObituaryShare.com for just $150 — compared to $500 or more for a typi- cal newspaper obituary. Communities stand to benefit enormously as well, as the instant click-to-donate feature makes it more like- ly that nonprofits will receive donations in memory of a deceased person. Arrington said that during the test of Generous’ click- to-donate feature, ObituaryShare.com obit- uaries generated an average of $540 in do- nations to charities. “Generous is very excited about partner- ing with ObituaryShare.com to make it quick and easy for anyone to make a char- itable donation in the name of a deceased friend or family member,” said Ross Bun- trock, Generous CEO. “We have taken spe- cial care to make it convenient for funeral directors to drop a donation link into any ObituaryShare.com obituary, and it can also be included on the funeral home’s website, if they wish. Then Generous handles the en- tire process from there, managing the dona- tion collection and distribution to the char- MUSIC CITY 2021 NFDA Convention Highlights continued New Obituary Publishing Technology Rolled Out During NFDA Convention WOODBURY HEIGHTS,NJ— The American Board of Funeral Service Ed- ucation (ABFSE) held its biannual meet- ing on October 13 – 16, 2021 at the Hy- att Centric Hotel in Nashville, TN. The ABFSE historically holds its fall meeting to coincide with the NFDA convention. Due to the pandemic, many of the ABFSE Committees have been meeting virtually but the ABFSE Committee on Accredita- tion met in person on October 14 and 15, and the ABFSE Executive Committee met on October 16. In addition, twenty-two program directors and faculty members at- tended a Self-Study Workshop on Saturday morning, October 16. Approximately twenty-five of the ABFSE programs were represented at the NFDA convention which was held from October 17 – 20. The American Board of Funer- al Service Education serves as the national academic accreditation agency for college and university programs in Funeral Ser- vice and Mortuary Science Education. Al- though its roots go back to the 1940’s, the ABFSE became an autonomous agency in 1962. The accrediting function of ABFSE is recognized by the US Department of Education and the Council on Higher Education Accreditation. ABFSE participated as an exhibitor at the NFDA Convention to provide infor- mation about the 56 accredited colleges and programs of funeral service education in the United States. In addition, Sharon Gee-Mascarello, author of the 6th edition of the embalming textbook “ Embalming: History, Theory and Practice,” was available to answer convention questions about the new text, published by McGraw Hill, and scheduled for release in early 2022. Participating in the photograph are fac- ulty members and administrators from several of the ABFSE accredited programs and colleges. Seated in the middle of the photograph is Sharon Gee-Mascarello. American Board of Funeral Service Education Meets in Nashville BLACK MOUNTAIN,NC— Recently featured during the NFDA convention, the Navigating Loss program provides both a book and video series that gently guides your widowed clients through the challeng- es and changes death has brought to them. Written in an accessible, storytelling style, each of the eighteen chapters ends with an activity that restores safety and builds cour- age and confidence. The Navigating Loss Program is utilized by your client in the safety of their own home and allows them to progress through their grief and into the rebuilding of life as a single person at their own pace. This solid resource features research from Harvard’s Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine; the National Institutes of Health; the Mayo Clinic; Eat for Life by Dr. Joel Fuhrman; Duke University Professor of Psychiatry, James Blumenthal, PhD; Kath- leen Rehl, PhD on finances for widows; and Michael Craig Miller, MD, former editor of The Harvard Mental Health Letter . Learn more at: https://awidowstale/providers “Navigating Loss points out true north with a road map for the widowed person’s jour- ney. It’s packed with information, insight, and research-based practices. Todd weaves sto- ries and anecdotes from her own widowhood journey throughout the guide, which helps make the aspects of the journey accessible and workable. This is a solid resource.” — Jim Kulma, M.Div. Supervisor of Spiritual Care, The MetroHealth System, Cleveland, OH “This program accompanies the reader through grief ’s physical and emotional chal- lenges, financial and medical issues, practical approaches to memorializing a loved one, and even dating and remarriage.” —Patricia Shearer, MD The Navigating Loss Program Featured at Convention