Join the Bay Area Funeral Consumers Association (BAFCA) on Sunday, April 17, for their annual free event at the garden Embarcadero Room in the beautiful Palo Alto Rinconada Library from 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. The Palo Alto Rinconada Library is located at 1213 Newell Rd., Palo Alto, CA 94303. The event is open to the public. BAFCA is a chapter of a national nonprofit organization of volunteers who help inform and protect consumers when shopping for funeral goods or services. The free event will include an informative talk, social hour, refreshments, and funeral planning educational resources.
The guest speaker, Final Passages’ director Jerrigrace Lyons, will be giving a multimedia presentation entitled Another Alternative: A Family-Directed Home Funeral on family-directed home funerals and green burial. A Reiki Master, Certified Trager Practitioner, founder of Final Passages, and director of Home Funeral Ministry, Jerrigrace has a long history in alternative healthcare practices. She pioneered Final Passages in 1995 to reawaken a choice that our ancestors once held sacred.
Before the late 19th century and the rise of the funeral industry, after-death care was largely viewed as a natural part of life and practiced as an intimate ritual by friends and family. Today, the National Funeral Directors Association reports a traditional funeral costs $8,000 – $10,000 and even more with all the trimmings (cosmetology, flowers, funeral vehicles, invitations, memorial book, obituaries, etc.). Families seeking a more active role and greater ownership in the care of their dead are reclaiming after-death care and fostering the death positive movement. With a revival in both family-directed home funerals and green burials, families are opting for more affordable, personal, environmentally conscious, and dignified alternatives to honor the life of their loved ones.
A home funeral or family-directed funeral is the process of caring for the body of their loved one in the home without intervention by a funeral director. The practice involves understanding home funeral laws within your state and county, completing the necessary after-death paperwork, gathering supplies, bathing and dressing the body, laying out the body, and transportation to the place of final disposition. Families can choose to do this alone or employ the services of a Home Funeral Guide or Natural Death Care Consultant to navigate the process. By performing after-death care in the home, family and friends are gifted more time with their departed. The supportive network that gather to jointly prepare the body, grieve, and celebrate the life now gobe provide additional opportunities for communal closure and healing.
Green or natural burial emphasizes simplicity, ecological conservation, and environmental sustainability. No artificial processes are employed instead opting for environmentally responsible practices and environmentally friendly products. Bodies are returned to the earth unembalmed in biodegradable coffins or shrouds and interred directly without a concrete burial vault. The goal is complete decomposition of the body and its natural return to the soil. In contrast to customarily somber cemeteries, green cemeteries or memorial parks resemble natural preserves with lush greens, native plants, and vibrant thriving ecosystems.
Visit the Bay Area Funeral Consumers Association (http://www.ba-fca.org/) for more information. If you have any questions contact BAFCA board member Suzette Sherman @ 650 862-7522
Event Title: Another Alternative: A Family-Directed Home Funeral
Date: Sunday, April 17th
Location: The fabulous garden Embarcadero Room at the beautiful Palo Alto Rinconada Library
Hours are 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. plus socializing and brochures and refreshments
Address: 1213 Newell Rd., Palo Alto, CA 94303 (650) 329-2436
Cost: Free and open to the public
