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, etc.) will be conducted first. Lee Webster’s presentation should start by 2:30pm, with time for audience questions and discussion starting about 3:30pm. Refreshments and more door prices, too.
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. Navigating systems that were not in place prior to the birth of the funeral industry can be challenging, and in some states, virtually insurmountable. Massachusetts, fortunately, does allow home funerals. Home funerals have been gaining in popularity steadily over the past 25 years in the U.S.
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 Educators 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!