Article Presented by:
Wesley Berry, AAF
It's a fact of life-we want everything fast and easy. Our world is all hustle and bustle and we find ourselves trying to cram 34 hours of activity into a 24-hour day. To combat our ever-increasing responsibilities, we look for quicker ways to accomplish our tasks, like using the Internet site Wikipedia to gather information on everything from historical events to current entertainers. Sadly, it seems the want for quick solutions has even stretched to funeral planning. Now, florists and funeral directors in Connecticut are working together to combat the growing trend.
When planning a funeral today, people can actually turn to the Internet to order caskets and hold super-fast funerals with very little, if any, interaction with actual professional florists and funeral homes who help make funerals a beautiful, memorable, and peaceful closure. In an effort to bring florists and funeral directors back into the equation, the Connecticut Florists Association (CFA) and the Connecticut Funeral Directors Association (CFDA) will begin working together this fall. This collaboration is necessary because according to John F. Cascio, CFDA's executive director, "One industry needs the other. We will have an understanding and an open-door policy...We both want to serve the families." The two organizations will form a joint task force consisting of three representatives from each association.
To further promote traditional funerals, the CFA will produce a third edition of its Guide to Funeral Homes, which is updated every six years. Richard Provino of Rodier Flowers in Ridgefield, Connecticut serves as the chairman of the funeral directors committee. He said the guide is based on a survey of 300 Connecticut funeral directors and contains information about what each funeral director requires and prefers. It's intended to help customers choose the funeral director that will best meet their wants and needs in the most efficient manner possible.
Manny Gonzales, owner of Tiger Lily floral shop in Charleston, South Carolina offers proof that when florists and funeral directors work together, everyone benefits. Gonzales has formed a partnership with a local funeral home that has been keeping his fax machine whirring and his staff busy creating beautiful funeral flowers. In an article by Amanda Temple in the May 2002 issue of Floral Management, Gonzales said, "My wife laughs at me because I make such a big deal about every funeral order. But every fax that comes in is just more proof that this [partnership] is working, that I've earned the funeral directors' trust and that Tiger Lily is finally in the sympathy business."
His partnership is really pretty simple. Mark Smith, funeral director for McAlister-Smith Funeral Home, sat down with Gonzales to look over books of floral designs and arrangements and set prices for Smith's customers. Now, funeral directors at McAlister-Smith ask families who seek their services if they've found someone to take care of the flowers for them. If they say "yes," the conversation ends there. However, if they say "no," the director tells them about Tiger Lily and offers to place the flower order for them. There's no obligation for the funeral home to meet a certain percentage of flower sales, but in return for their support, Gonzales allocates ten percent of their total flower sales to the funeral home.
In a world of Wikipedia fast information gathering and Internet funeral planning, a small time and money commitment can really help florists and funeral directors arrange personal and meaningful funerals for families in their time of need.
About the Author:
Wesley Berry is member of the American Academy of Floriculture (AAF) and President of Wesley Berry Flowers, a successful multi-million dollar floral business that was established in 1946. He also works with funeral-homes.net to provide useful information about funeral homes across the nation. He has been recognized by florists nationwide as a leader in the flower business. Visit Wesley Berry Flowers on the web at www.800wesleys.com
