Eternal Reefs Offers New Option For Green, Ocean Memorial

Funeral Industry News April 11, 2013
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Eternal Reefs Offers New Option For Green, Ocean Memorial

ETERNAL REEFS DIRECT OFFERS “UNATTENDED” PLACEMENT FOR FAMILIES, PROFITABLE MARGINS FOR FUNERAL PROFESSIONALS

TAMPA  – April 10, 2013 – As the ICCFA conference (International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association) opens today in Tampa, Eternal Reefs announces a new option in the company’s menu of product offerings, expanding its green memorial business and offering profitable margins for professionals in the death care industry. Eternal Reefs Direct will allow a person’s cremains to be memorialized underwater in an environmentally sustainable Reef Ball as the company has always offered, but with an “unattended” option – that is family members and friends are not present at the casting, viewing or on-site ocean dedication and placement.

Since 1998, customers have regarded Eternal Reefs as the leader in permanent underwater, sustainable memorials and have benefited from the highly interactive process of the company’s casting (when family members actually mix cremains, place handprints in damp cement, write personal messages, etc.), viewing (when a loved one’s completed reef ball is unveiled), and placement and dedication (when families make the trip out to the ocean, watch as their loved one’s reef ball is lowered to the ocean floor and say a last goodbye). The new option meets a growing demand from clients and death care industry professionals.

“We are not changing anything about the Eternal Reefs process that our clients have come to love over the years,” George Frankel, Eternal Reefs CEO, said. “We are simply expanding to offer another option for families who can’t physically be present at the site of the loved one’s Eternal Reefs placement.”

“We all know the cremation statistics are exploding, jumping from 15% in 1988 to a predicted 57% by 2025. Families need to have more options and we are meeting that need by diversifying our product offerings with this new Eternal Reefs Direct option. We also think death care professionals will be on-board as we bring this to market and offer a business win-win.”

Eternal Reefs Direct will be available in the Sarasota, Florida placement site only with no direct family involvement. The personalized bronze plaque placed on the reef ball will contain the loved one’s name, date of birth and date of death. Families will send cremains to the company and receive two certificates with the GPS coordinates of their loved one’s reef ball following the placement. Eternal Reefs Direct costs $1,995 and the company offers a robust commission schedule to death care professionals.

 

In addition to having a meaningful permanent marker, positively impacting the environment after death is increasingly important to families. Eternal Reefs incorporates cremains into an environmentally safe, enormous cast cement mixture. Round, hollow and vented, these structures are extremely stable in the marine environment and weigh between 700 pounds (2’ high x 3’ wide) and 4500 pounds (4’ high x 6’ wide). The specialized concrete was developed by marine biologists at the University of Georgia to be compatible with the ocean’s quickly declining ecosystem. Eternal Reefs is a strategic partner with The Reef Ball Foundation and the company’s artificial reefs are dedicated to preserve, protect and enhance the natural coastal reef formations. They are designed to become permanent additions to the marine environment. Prices for options different to the company’s new Eternal Reefs Direct program range from $2,995 for the Sea Oats Community Memorial Reef to $6,995 for the Mariner Memorial Reef.

 

About Eternal Reefs Inc.
Eternal Reefs, Inc. is an Atlanta-based company that provides a creative, environmentally-enhancing way to memorialize the cremated remains of a loved one. The company incorporates cremated remains into a concrete mixture used to cast artificial reef formations. The artificial reefs are dedicated as permanent memorials while also bolstering natural coastal reef formations. Since 1998, the company has placed more than 1,500 Memorial Reefs in 20 locations off the coasts of Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Maryland, New Jersey, Texas and Virginia, substantially increasing the ocean’s diminishing reef systems.  Memorial reefs can only go in properly permitted locations by the numerous state and federal agencies. Contact Eternal Reefs Inc. at www.eternalreefs.com.