Here in the south, we have a saying that, although grammatically incorrect, is nevertheless accepted and understood. When we speak of someone with a big heart, who does great things for others without seeking recognition or reward, we say, “He (or she) is good people.” Andrew Lumish is good people. For the past five years, Lumish has quietly and methodically restored the aged, virtually unreadable tombstones of more than 1500 veterans resting in Tampa, Florida’s vast Woodlawn Cemetery. These veterans aren’t ancestors or family friends; they are simply individuals who committed themselves to serving and defending the freedom of strangers–some even making the ultimate sacrifice. It’s a sacrifice Lumish knows all too well.
Chris worked for Lumish’s professional upholstery and carpet cleaning company…until one day, when he didn’t respond to Lumish’s texts. Tragically, Lumish learned that Chris had taken his own life.
The Good CemeterianLumish’s devotion to both Chris and tombstone cleaning has earned him the appropriate moniker “The Good Cemeterian,” a name he adopted for his website and social media profiles. Lumish diligently sets aside several hours every Sunday for his cemetery work. But even for someone in the professional cleaning industry, bringing old tombstones back to their former glory is hard work.
Spreading the love…and the D/2When Lumish set his mind to this monumental undertaking, he researched the best product for gravestone restoration, looking for something that was powerful enough to remove decades or centuries of debris and detritus without damaging the stone. He discovered D/2 Biological Solution, an eco-friendly liquid mixture that had been tested and approved for use by the National Parks Service for the restoration of stones in national cemeteries. Lumish teamed up with a D/2 distributor to offer product discounts and affordable starter kits to The Good Cemeterian’s followers who want to emulate his work in their own local graveyards. The effect of Lumish’s selfless project has spread well beyond Woodlawn Cemetery. Every February, during Black History Month, Lumish devotes his efforts to restoring stones in African-American cemeteries. In October, he and D/2 supplier Cemetery Preservation Supply LLC teamed up with the Tennessee National Parks Service for HOPE Crew Volunteer Day. Along with hundreds of other volunteers, Lumish cleaned more than 4,000 headstones of veterans in Stones River National Cemetery in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Lumish is working with both the National Parks Service and his D/2 distributor to initiate additional volunteer cleaning projects across the United States. The story beneath the stonesArmbruster joined Lumish’s team in August 2016 after coming across his story on Facebook. As someone who is poignantly familiar with PTSD–her daughter’s father is a veteran who suffers from the condition–she wanted to help veterans and also find an outlet to help her cope with her own family’s struggles. She reached out to Lumish via a Facebook friend request–which he accepted. When she read a post that Lumish was looking for someone to help with research, she immediately messaged him.
Lumish did give her a chance, and since then Armbruster has added a rich layer of history and humanity to the stones Lumish refurbishes, sharing her biographies of each veteran on The Good Cemeterian’s Facebook page.
Preserving the pastLumish established The Good Cemeterian Historical Preservation Project as a 501©3 charitable organization with the mission “to preserve and honor the past through inspiration and education. He accepts donations to continue his work and offers unique products on his website featuring some of Lumish’s incredible photography from his Sunday afternoon cemetery strolls. There’s no doubt in Armbruster’s mind that Lumish’s good work is truly just beginning.
Article by Connecting Directors contributor Patricia Hartley The post The Good Cemeterian: On a Mission to Honor Our Heroes appeared first on Connecting Directors. The Good Cemeterian: On a Mission to Honor Our Heroes published first on YouTube via Tumblr The Good Cemeterian: On a Mission to Honor Our Heroes
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As 2019 fast approaches, so too does the new paradigm of funeral service. We had the chance to sit down with Louise Winter, the owner of Poetic Endings, recently to find out where she thought the funeral profession was headed… and what’s wrong with the current state of affairs. Louise shared her open and […] The post How One Fed Up Funeral Director Created a Thriving & Modern Funeral Business appeared first on funeralOne Blog. How One Fed Up Funeral Director Created a Thriving & Modern Funeral Business published first on YouTube via Tumblr How One Fed Up Funeral Director Created a Thriving & Modern Funeral Business In this remarkable panel discussion, three women from diverse backgrounds discuss Near Death Experiences and End-of-Life Visions. via Tumblr Video: Near Death Experiences and End-of-Life Visions We recently wrote about the private equity firm Providence Equity and outlined their recent activity and investments in the death care technology space (Read the article here). The private equity firm has investments in over 180 companies worldwide and maintains $60 billion in managed assets. Their sector-focused strategy is aligned with their moves in death-tech, recently taking a controlling stake in SRS Computing, Frazer Consulting, and FrontRunner Professional. We wanted to take a closer look at an industry that Providence Equity has employed their niche sector-focused strategy in the past to glean a vision of their possible future in death care. Providence Equity rolled out an investment play in church technology that looks remarkably similar to their early moves in death technology. Starting around 2012, the private equity firm took a stake in Ministry Brands which began to rapidly acquire church technology companies and collect them separately under the umbrella company. Ministry Brands is a collection of faith-based software products that provide services and tools including accounting, background screening, online giving, church business management, and website development. This suite of 31 technology companies is similar to the tools Providence Equity has been acquiring in death care which includes business management technologies, website development, digital memorials, client communication management, and funeral home marketing and advertising services. A major difference between church-tech and death-tech is that Ministry Brands reports that they serve 55,000+ churches while the total market share in funeral care is around 15,600 funeral homes in the U.S. It appears that Providence equity recognized the market similarities between church and death and are aiming to replicate their strategy on a smaller scale in the funeral space. What are Ministry Brands’ Goals?Ministry Brands’ exit goal was clearly laid out and blatantly advertised in the media in 2016: The intention is to sell the conglomerate for $1.5 billion. As of the publishing date of this article, Providence Equity still holds a stake in Ministry Brands (according to their website) along with Genstar Capital. Ministry Brands’ financial-focused goal is not taken lightly by the church community which by nature is highly sensitive to larger corporations’ ability to prioritize financially motivated decisions over mission-based decisions. Members of the religious community want to uphold the integrity of the industry and big companies with lots of power and intent to sell make everyone nervous. Was Ministry Brands a success?It depends on who you ask and the story isn’t quite over. Ministry Brands did successfully create (and continues to build) an industry-dominating conglomerate of faith-based technology companies that, together, had an estimated $100 million in Ebitda in 2017 – That in itself is a major accomplishment. From the perspective of a private equity firm like Providence, they would likely label it a success upon selling Ministry Brands with a measurable ROI. The employees of the acquired companies and the corporate-sensitive religious space have another perspective of the accomplishments of Ministry Brands. According to the anonymous work-place review website Glass Door, Ministry Brands’ company takeovers have been challenging for employees. The company has an overall rating of 2.2 (out of 5) stars with 70 reviews. Here are just a few of the negative reviews on Glass Door:
There are also a few positive reviews on Glass Door including:
To address the growing concerns of the employees speaking out online and the suspected financial-over-mission motives of Ministry Brands, COO Brad Hill appeared on the Podcast Pro Church Tools in 2017 reinforcing that:
Will Providence be able to successfully replicate their model in death care?It’s hard to say if Providence equity will be able to successfully create a powerful conglomerate of death-tech companies. There is a specific balance of market share, quality-of-product, diversification of services, and other factors that blessed their faith-based mega-brand with power and influence. It’s hard to find especially future-facing tech companies in death care that are ripe for investment because funeral directors are slow to adopt and are running their establishments on tight budgets… but as younger directors take management positions this will begin to change. The death-tech space has not yet reached technological maturity, in fact, I don’t think it’s even scratched the surface. So, even if Providence Equity does scoop up 31 death-tech brands and owns a sizable portion of the market it still leaves itself vulnerable to disruption by confident startups with infrastructure-shifting ideas that could render Providence’s companies obsolete within a matter of years (we’ve seen this disruption happen in many industries in the last decade). And if Ministry Brands paints an accurate picture of how Providence operates its sector-focused investment strategy, the private equity firm is not in the business of building revolutionary tools… they buy them. The post Providence Equity did in Church-tech What They are About to do in Death-tech. Here’s What it Looks Like… appeared first on Connecting Directors. Providence Equity did in Church-tech What They are About to do in Death-tech. Here’s What it Looks Like… published first on YouTube via Tumblr Providence Equity did in Church-tech What They are About to do in Death-tech. Here’s What it Looks Like… Nurturing the Next Generation: New Licensees Encouraged to Apply for 2019 Meet the Mentors Program12/19/2018 Brookfield, Wis. – The National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) is now accepting entries for a chance to participate in the 2019 Meet the Mentors program, March 10-12 at the Emory Conference Center Hotel, located on the campus of Emory University, in Atlanta, Ga. Meet the Mentors has been wholly funded by the Funeral Service Foundation since the program’s 2011 inception. During Meet the Mentors, 50 funeral professionals who are age 40 or under or new to the profession (first licensed within the last five years) will have an opportunity to meet, learn from and talk with innovative and successful funeral professionals. It’s also an opportunity to network and form relationships with other new professionals. Meet the Mentors attendees will spend time with three of the profession’s most respected funeral professionals:
During the program, the mentors will share career advice and lessons they have learned while building rewarding and fulfilling careers in funeral service. Attendees will be able to connect with the mentors and their fellow mentees during small group discussions, interactive exercises and meals. “I found Meet the Mentors to be a great opportunity to meet with other funeral service professionals from all over the country,” said one of the 2018 Meet the Mentors attendees. “It gave me the ability to see and hear what other firms are doing to engage with the public and their community. I would gladly recommend this program to new funeral directors looking to learn how they can best serve their families. “The most valuable part was the inspiration I gained by being surrounded by peers in my same shoes, with the same hardships ahead,” said another participant in the 2018 program. “Being able to brainstorm solutions to these problems was extremely helpful.” There is no cost to participate in the Meet the Mentors program itself. The Funeral Service Foundation’s grant provides exclusive, career-transforming access to three mentors, and covers attendees’ registration fees, two nights’ lodging and select meals (reception and dinner on March 10; breakfast, lunch and dinner on March 11; and breakfast and lunch on March 12). The 50 individuals selected to attend only pay for their transportation to the program. Nearly 600 young professionals and emerging leaders have benefited from the Meet the Mentors program, which underscores the Foundation’s mission to support funeral service in building meaningful relationships with the families and communities it serves. The program is part of the Foundation ’45 Awards, which are designed to transform the careers of funeral service professionals through scholarships, awards, resources and mission-focused outreach. The names of the 50 participants will be randomly drawn from among all who enter via the NFDA website, www.nfda.org/mentors. Entries will be accepted through 11:59 p.m. CST on January 4, 2019. Entrants must be NFDA members in good standing, licensed funeral directors and/or embalmers, and age 40 or under or new to the profession (first licensed within the last five years). The names of the 50 participants will be drawn the week of January 21, 2019, from among all entries received. The names of 10 attendees will be revealed every day, Monday through Friday via the NFDA website and social media channels. Complete details about the NFDA Meet the Mentors program, including all eligibility requirements and an event schedule, can be found on the NFDA website, www.nfda.org/mentors. Members can call NFDA at 800-228-6332 with questions. About NFDA — www.nfda.org NFDA is the world’s leading and largest funeral service association, serving more than 20,000 individual members who represent nearly 11,000 funeral homes in the United States and 49 countries around the world. NFDA is the trusted leader, beacon for ethics and the strongest advocate for the profession. NFDA is the association of choice because it offers funeral professionals comprehensive educational resources, tools to manage successful businesses, guidance to become pillars in their communities and the expertise to foster future generations of funeral professionals. NFDA is headquartered in Brookfield, Wis., and has an office in Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.nfda.org. About the Funeral Service Foundation — www.FuneralServiceFoundation.org Since 1945, the Funeral Service Foundation has served as the profession’s philanthropic voice. As the charitable arm of the National Funeral Directors Association since 1997, the Foundation receives operational support from NFDA and donors across the profession to help advance its mission to support funeral service in building meaningful relationships with the families and the communities it serves. The post Nurturing the Next Generation: New Licensees Encouraged to Apply for 2019 Meet the Mentors Program appeared first on Connecting Directors. Nurturing the Next Generation: New Licensees Encouraged to Apply for 2019 Meet the Mentors Program published first on YouTube via Tumblr Nurturing the Next Generation: New Licensees Encouraged to Apply for 2019 Meet the Mentors Program Since 1994, SouthCare Cremation & Funeral Society has provided cremation and funeral services that are professional, compassionate and attentive. With those values in mind, they have chosen the Travel Plan by Inman as their travel plan provider. “Planning end of life arrangements gives those we serve and their loved ones peace of mind. The Travel Plan by Inman provides another layer of protection should death occur away from home,” states Dan Thompson CEO. “We are delighted to expand our Travel Plan offering to SouthCare Cremation & Funeral Society,” Dave McComb Travel Plan by Inman CEO. “As more and more families are choosing cremation for their preplanning, the Travel Plan by Inman can provide an additional revenue source for funeral professionals while providing an excellent service to participants. The Travel Plan by Inman offers families peace of mind in knowing their loved ones will not have to worry about any details should they die more than 100 miles away. A one-time fee of $450 covers the cost of bringing a loved one home for ceremony; costs which could otherwise range anywhere from $1,500 – $15,000+. This coverage is good for anywhere in the world. To learn more about SouthCare Cremation & Funeral Society: Contact Dan Thompson (770) 420-5557 or [email protected]. For more information on the Travel Plan by Inman: Contact Lori Davis (260) 247-2202 or [email protected]. The post SouthCare Cremation & Funeral Society Selects The Travel Plan by Inman As Their Preferred Travel Plan provider appeared first on Connecting Directors. SouthCare Cremation & Funeral Society Selects The Travel Plan by Inman As Their Preferred Travel Plan provider published first on YouTube via Tumblr SouthCare Cremation & Funeral Society Selects The Travel Plan by Inman As Their Preferred Travel Plan provider Passages International will be a unique setting for Death Cafe conversations about end-of-life issues! via Tumblr Jan. 17 Death Cafe at Passages International There are many similarities between birth and death. Just like birth… death is a deeply personal, emotionally and physically intense journey for the loved one and the family and friends involved. Henry Fersko-Weiss got to thinking about these similarities, and wondered. What if we supported the dying and their families, the same way we support […] The post How End-Of-Life Doulas Can Teach Us A New Way of Dying… And Grieving appeared first on funeralOne Blog. How End-Of-Life Doulas Can Teach Us A New Way of Dying… And Grieving published first on YouTube via Tumblr How End-Of-Life Doulas Can Teach Us A New Way of Dying… And Grieving This panel discussion features Albuquerque funeral directors taking audience questions on a range of issues related to death, dying and funeral planning. via Tumblr Video: Funeral Directors Panel on What You Need to Know On this FN episode, Jeff and Ryan discuss the glaring problem with gender equality in this profession. They also discuss Providence Equity, and the acquisition of Astral by Wilbert Funeral Services, Inc. Merger and acquisitions do not look to be slowing down – who’s next? The post Gender Equality, It’s a Problem | Funeral Nation 134 appeared first on Connecting Directors. Gender Equality, It’s a Problem | Funeral Nation 134 published first on YouTube via Tumblr Gender Equality, It’s a Problem | Funeral Nation 134 |
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