Summer, Fall Events Include Eternal Reefs Memorials In New Jersey, Maryland, The Carolinas, Florida And Texas
Commissions for Funeral Directors, Highly Participatory Memorial Activities For Families
Atlanta, GA — Once a family decides on cremation, Eternal Reefs offers an alternative to ash scattering that is at once beneficial to the environment, gratifying to family members and fulfilling to funeral directors because they introduce a client to a new memorial option. The company offers commissions to funeral directors for referrals and has announced its summer and fall schedule including placements in Maryland, Florida and Texas.
Eternal Reefs is rebuilding the ocean’s diminishing natural reef systems by placing eco-friendly reef balls containing cremains on the ocean floor. The weekend-long process involves families as much as they want in memorial activities that can include mixing cremains into the concrete; placing handprints, written notes and other memorabilia into the damp mixture; participating in memorial activities which can include military honors; and boarding the boat to watch as the reef balls are lowered to the ocean floor. Families are given GPS coordinates of their loved one’s memorial and often visit the location, boating to and diving on the reef to enjoy the new marine habitat that is their loved one’s final resting place.
“Many families tell us participating in the Eternal Reefs memorial weekend activities bonds them together in a way they didn’t anticipate,” George Frankel, Eternal Reefs CEO, said. “People tell us memorializing their loved one in an ocean environment, often in popular vacation spots, helps the family celebrate a life lived well and is healing for them as well as the sea. It’s not uncommon for us to have as many as 20 family members and friends gather for their final goodbye.”
Upcoming Eternal Reefs placements include:
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Southport, NC/Myrtle Beach, SC (April 13 – April 16, 2012)
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Chesapeake Bay, MD (April 20 – April 23)
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Ocean City, NJ (April 27 – April 30, 2012)
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Ocean City, MD (May 4 – May 7, 2012)
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Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, FL (June 22 – June 25, 2012)
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Sarasota, FL (June 29 – July 2, 2012)
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Galveston, TX (October 26 – October 29, 2012)
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Pensacola, FL (November 2 – November 5, 2012)
Loved ones can participate in every step of the process including reef casting, viewing and placement ceremonies. The entire Eternal Reefs experience is a four-day process, designed to be positive and healing for the families and the sea. With every Memorial Reef, the executor of the estate receives two memorial certificates that identify the longitude and latitude of the memorials, which are marked with bronze plaques. Private placements are also offered by Eternal Reefs.
Reef balls are huge, hollow, structures that look like giant wiffle balls that attract aquatic wildlife and quickly foster new marine growth, replenishing the world’s diminishing natural reef systems. An Eternal Reefs “memorial reef” is specially engineered to last forever and to withstand hurricanes and other natural disasters. Reef balls vary in size from 600 pounds (2’ high x 4’ wide) to 4500 pounds (4’ high x 6’ wide).
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 US Government. Contact Eternal Reefs Inc. at: http://www.eternalreefs.com
