top of page

PAST AND UPCOMING EVENTS

Yes, anybody can be buried at sea. Why people pick the ocean as their final resting place sea?

Los Angeles Times

By Deborah Netburn, Staff Writer

Photography by Carolyn Cole

April 12, 2022

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Colorado lays to rest first legally composted human

remains

NBC News

By Tim Fitzsimons

Monday, Mar 21, 2022 (3 min read)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

For Sale: Cemetery Plots: Two women learn the demand for gravesites is weaker than it used to be

AARP THE MAGAZINE

By Jean Chatzy

Monday, Feb 21, 2022

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reef ball burials: the new trend for becoming ‘coral’ when you die

The Guardian

Abby Young-Powel

Monday, Feb 21, 2022

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Last Pandemic Aid Anybody Wants to Need

New York Times

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Death Business Is Booming—for Now

Wall Street Journal Bangor Daily News, Maine

Sam Schipani

May 3, 2021

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you care about the planet, decide what to do with your body when you die

Bangor Daily News, Maine

Sam Schipani

May 3, 2021

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Why Funerals Are So Expensive In The U.S.

In the past decade, dying has become an increasingly expensive thing to do. More and more families are choosing cremation or simply scaling down on memorial services for their loved ones. Both of which bring in less revenue for funeral businesses that tend to rely on extravagant services and expensive caskets and burials. So with traditional funeral rituals becoming more obsolete, increasingly expensive and entrenched in criticism, what does this mean for the death-care industry?

CNBC

Produced by: Dymond Green

Senior Producer: Jacqui Frank

April 24, 2021

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Funeral Consumers Alliance

Presents,

"Bringing Funerals Back Home"

Join us on March 31, at 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM (PST) to see FCA leader Laurie Mulvey of Pennsylvania who will tell her story of the home and family-directed funeral held for Laurie's mother earlier this year.

Minimum donation: $10

Click here to register.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

If You Could See Yourself at 80, Would You?

 

By: Grace Birnstengel

March 15, 2021 | nextavenue

Valley PBS: Broadcast "Fast Forward": Click here (Expires 04/23/2021)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dad, a Death Sentence and the Planner Who Set Us Straight

 

 

By: Ron Lieber

February 23, 2021 | The New York Times

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dad, a Death Sentence and the Planner Wh

South Coast AQMD Issues Emergency Order for Crematoriums due to COVID-1

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 17, 2021

MEDIA CONTACT: Kim White, (909) 396-3456, Cell: (909) 323-9479

Nahal Mogharabi, (909) 396-3773, Cell: (909) 837-2431

press@aqmd.gov

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Lost Art of Dying

A physician and human ethicist argue that modern society has lost sight of the cultural, spiritual, and practical resources we need to confront our mortality.

By: CHERIE HENDERSON '14 SPS 

WINTER 2020 - 2021 | COLUMBIA MAGAZINE

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

FireShot Capture 800 - The Lost Art of D

Financial steps to take immediately when spouse dies

Consider hiring an estate planning or probate attorney to help with these tasks.

FireShot Capture 775 -  - enewspaper.lat

GRIEF CAN impair judgment. Be careful about making big

changes in the year after a spouse’s death.

(Matt Born Associated Press)

By: liz weston

december 29, 2020 | time

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Funeral Costs Are Driving Families Hit by COVID-19 to Desperate Measures

Clockwise from top left: The Hinojosa family; Hannah Hae In Kim

and her parents (2); The Kellogg family

By: melissa chan

december 21, 2020 | time

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FireShot Capture 758 - COVID-19 Funeral

Part of The Coronavirus Pandemic: What You Need to Know

How to Have 'The Talk' During COVID-19

The pandemic is the prime time to discuss end-of-life matters

 

 

Kai, his dad, and Kai's little sister | Credit: Courtesy of Kai Drewry

By: bruce horovits

december 7, 2020 | caregiving

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

thetalk.webp
07-01-2020_BOSTON GLOBE NO REFUND ISSUES

The children of Julia Flaherty, who died from COVID-19 on April 13, feel they were overcharged by the funeral home for her arrangements. From left, Daniel Flaherty, Maureen O'Leary, and Sean Flaherty visited their parents' grave in St. Joseph Cemetery, in West Roxbury, holding a photo of their parents on their wedding day.

By: sEAN P. MURPHY, GLOBE STAFF

JUNE 4, 2020 | BOSTON GLOBE

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

New York City funeral home was storing bodies on ice in U-Haul trucks

By: Jonathan Dienst and Tim Stelloh

aPrIL 29, 2020 | NBC News Digital

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FireShot Capture 523 - New York City fun

Death Industry Is No Safe Haven in a Pandemic

 

 

 

 

By: spencer jakab

aPrIL 11, 2020 | WALL STREET JOURNAL

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

04-11-2020_DEATH INDUSTRY IS NO SAFE HAV

Ecuador builds emergency cemeteries amid rising deaths, coronavirus cases

By: reuters | aPrIL 8, 2020 

04-08-2020_pic of ecuador story.jpg

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

March 27, 2020

Video - 2020 FCA Postponed Funeral Video by FCA's Executive Director: Josh Slocum

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She got coronavirus at a funeral and died. Her family honored her with a drive-up service

 

By: SUSANNE RUST, CAROLYN COLE

april 8, 2020 | l.a. times

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In Stanislaus County, how coronavirus is affecting the way mortuaries do their work

By: erin tracy

March 27, 2020 | modesto bee

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Funerals Postponed Article

March 25, 2020 | BLOG - THE DAILY DIRGE

March 20, 2020 Video - Funerals during a pandemic

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dust To Dust - I Don't Relish Joining My Cremated In-Laws on our Bookcase.  Luckily, There Are Alternatives

 

By: amy goldman koss

March 8, 2020 | LA Times

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Death is Forever: Cemeteries, as they currently exist, might not be

By: Bess Lovejoy

FEBRUARY 26, 2020 |  CONSIDERABLE

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Compost your departed loved one and save the planet, L.A. lawmaker says

By: melody gutierrez | staff writer

FEBRUARY 24, 2020 |  LA TIMES

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Beverly Hills Man Says He Didn't Get Fair Share of His Wife's Ashes

By: hannah fry | staff writer

december 31, 2019  |  la times

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

03-27-2020_STANISLAUS FUNERAL HOMES - DF
04-08-2020_MADERA WOMAN.jfif

Hidden Funeral Prices: An Evaluation of California Funeral Home Price Disclosure and Lack of Disclosure

CONSUMER FEDERATION OF AMERICA

September 30, 2019  |  Report

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

51% of California Funeral Homes Hide Prices or Make Them Hard to Find Online, Consumer Groups Say

Five years after passage of law, some price lists are difficult to find on websites and others are nowhere to be found

By TERI SFORZA | tsforza@scng.com | Orange County Register

PUBLISHED: September 30, 2019 at 5:55 pm | UPDATED: October 1, 2019 at 2:43 pm

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FCA News -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

September 27, 2019

PRESS TELE-CONFERENCE ADVISORY 
September 30, 2019 at 1:00 PM Eastern
Call-in: 800-247-5110
Passcode: CFACALL

Contact: Josh Slocum, FCA, 802-865-8300
 
NEW REPORT ON FUNERAL SERVICES: ARE CALIFORNIA HOME FOLLOWING THE ONLINE PRICE DISCLOSURE LAWS
 
Adequate Disclosure of Funeral Home Costs Critical to Fair Prices

Washington, D.C. – At a 1 p.m. EST, press teleconference on Monday, September 30th, Consumer Federation of America, Funeral Consumers Alliance, Funeral Consumers Alliance of California and Consumer Action will release the results of a new report on the adequacy of online price information from funeral homes in California.  The report analyzed this information for more than 200 funeral homes in six large urban areas (Sacramento, Alameda County, City of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego). In addition, Stephen Brobeck, a Senior Fellow at CFA and Josh Slocum, FCA’s Executive Director will address how a loophole in the California online price disclosure law is allowing some funeral homes to bypass the intent of the law.
 
To be released at the press teleconference:

  • The difficulty of obtaining funeral pricing information online and how that impacts prices
     

  • City by city and company by company differences in the posting of funeral pricing
     

  • What California legislators must do to protect grief-stricken consumers
     

  • Why the Federal Trade Commission needs to take steps to protect bereaved consumers in California and across the country



EVENT:             Press Tele-conference: Release of New Report on California Funeral Price

                          Disclosures
DATE:               Monday, September 30, 2018 1 p.m. EDT
Call In #:           800-247-5110 and use Passcode: CFACALL
SPEAKERS:     Stephen Brobeck, Senior Fellow, CFA                                        
                          Josh Slocum, Executive Director, FCA

NO INFORMATION WILL BE RELEASED BEFORE THE TELECONFERENCE

The release will be available after 11:30 a.m. EDT September 30th @ www.consumerfed.org
 
The Consumer Federation of America is an association of more than 250 nonprofit consumer organizations that was established in 1968 to advance the consumer interest through research, advocacy, and education.

Funeral Consumers Alliance is a nonprofit federation of consumer education organizations. Founded in 1963, FCA works to educate the public on funeral options and costs in order to protect the consumer’s right to choose a meaningful and affordable funeral.
 
Consumer Action has been a champion of underrepresented consumers nationwide since 1971. A non-profit 501(c)(3) organization headquartered in San Francisco, Consumer Action focuses on consumer education that empowers low- and moderate-income and limited-English-speaking consumers to financially prosper.

Funeral Consumers Alliance of California represents the interests of member educational organizations and consumers throughout the state. 

Click on any of the teal or blue -colored text above to visit the respective websites.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

09-28-2019.png
bottom of page