We invite you to join us on Sunday, October 20, 2024, 2:00 – 4:00pm, for our Annual Meeting and Program.
We are delighted that Lee Webster, author and funeral reform advocate, has agreed to be our featured speaker. The theme is “You Can Do This: Family-Led Funerals.”
Open to all. Free. Bring your friends and family. To help us plan, advance registration is required. Please email us at fcawmass [at] gmail [dot] com and indicate whether you prefer to attend via Zoom or in-person.
Come in-person for REFRESHMENTS and DOOR PRIZES! We’ll be in a downstairs meeting room at 220 Main Street, Northampton, accessible via a side door entrance, with elevator. We are renting this space from the Unitarian Society of Northampton and Florence, as we did last year.
A brief business meeting (Annual Membership Meeting of our nonprofit organization, to elect board members, and vote on proposed bylaws revision) will be conducted first. [Details below.] Lee Webster’s presentation should start by 2:30pm, with time for audience questions and discussion starting about 3:30pm.
More about this program theme: Home funerals, affordable and meaningful, were once the norm. But after a century or more of outsourcing death care to funeral professionals, the ancient ways of conducting body care and funeral preparations have been largely forgotten. People feel uncertain about their right to care for their own dead. However, caring for your deceased at home in in your own way is meaningful, affordable, and legal. Although navigating systems the requirements of the funeral industry and state law can be challenging, home funerals are once again gaining in popularity and respect.
In this talk, Lee Webster will outline some of the obstacles, possibilities, and rewards we need to know about the home funeral experience.
What can we do to reclaim this privilege, reduce costs, and find solace in doing for ourselves? What rights do we have and how can we help others know more about their choices? How can we partner with funeral professionals while staying in charge of the things that help ground us during a loss?
Lee Webster’s Bio: Lee is a writer, researcher, long-time hospice volunteer, home funeral guide, conservationist, funeral-related website content writer and designer, and frequent speaker on home funerals, green burial, and funeral reform on the local and national front. In her role as a funeral reform advocate, she has supported many families and individuals in designing and carrying out care for their own dead in the home. She has also worked with nonprofits, agencies, facilities, and legislators to educate decision-makers who create policies that empower families.
She is the author of several home funeral and green burial books, including
- Changing Landscapes: Exploring the growth of ethical, compassionate and environmentally sustainable green funeral service
- The After-Death Care Educator Handbook
Lee Webster’s experience with home funerals and burials informs her work as a nationally recognized leader in the end of life sphere. She has served in leadership positions with the National Home Funeral Alliance and the Green Burial Council, and helped found the National End-of-Life Doula Alliance and the Conservation Burial Alliance while directing New Hampshire Funeral Resources, Education & Advocacy.
Don’t miss this special program!
Be sure to REGISTER; tell us if you prefer Zoom or in person.
TIMELINE with links to AGENDA and related documents for October 20, 2024
2:00pm Welcome! Refreshments hosted by members Eileen and David Pratt. Get ticket for door prizes.
2:05pm Drawing for a few door prizes.
2:10pm Annual Membership Meeting (brief reports, election of trustees, and bylaws vote). See these related documents, which can open in separate windows, and be printed or downloaded, if desired.
- Agenda (including fiscal year summary, and slates of candidates)
- Minutes of last year’s membership meeting
- Proposed bylaws revision (and reasons for it) = same document sent to members in the Fall Newsletter in late September. Some printed copies will be available in our meeting room.
2:30pm Program with guest speaker Lee Webster, “You Can Do This: Family-Led Funerals” (see above for her photo, biographical information, and overview of her topic.)
3:30pm Questions & discussion with Lee Webster. Refreshments continue.
3:55pm More door prizes! Final drawing.
4:00pm Close of meeting. OK to linger a bit, but we’ll be cleaning up; we need to exit by 4:30pm.