Nicole Vullo

Written by Danielle Burmeister, Homesteaders Marketing Communications Manager A few years ago, I met a woman who had buried two husbands. The first died unexpectedly at a tragically young age, the second after a long, hard and well-fought battle with cancer. Kate bore the unmistakable signs of grief – strength and perseverance coupled with the quiet certainty that life is very, very precious. As you might imagine, her first husband passed away without making any plans for his funeral arrangements. At his age, there was no reason to think he needed to talk with his wife about how he wanted to be remembered, where he wanted to be laid to rest or even where he kept their important documents and financial information. When he died, Kate was left with a mountain of decisions to make, a funeral to arrange and […]

Written by Wanda Sizemore, Homesteaders Director-Training & Development I have been fortunate to work in many funeral homes throughout my career, from all across the country. I have found that the differences between these businesses are significant, but in a lot of ways all funeral homes are alike: We are all here to serve families when they need us most, and that is true no matter what your role is in the funeral home. Like many of you, I came to the profession through personal tragedy after the unexpected loss of my mother and brother-in-law. In the days that followed, my family was understandably overwhelmed with grief and stress. When it became clear my boss at the time was not able to offer me the time and space I needed to process these catastrophic losses, I left my employer and […]

Written by the lawyers of WRW Legal, PLLC:  Wendy Russell Wiener, Lauren Pettine and Hank Thompson. Over the last few years, consumers and the federal government have grown critical of “junk fees” in a variety of industries and professions. As a result, the Federal Trade Commission is promulgating new regulations designed to address junk fees.  The funeral industry is wary of the FTC’s efforts here, and rightly so, which seem to go hand in hand, philosophically, with the potential revisions to the long-established Funeral Rule. Our office has been monitoring the discussion on junk fees and reviewing the proposed text of the regulations with an eye toward impact on the funeral industry. Junk fees are defined as mandatory fees which are omitted from advertised prices by businesses. All businesses will be subject to these regulations, if they become effective. The […]