Russian Cats & Christmastime Kudos | 4M #118
Welcome to the hundred-and-eighteenth edition of Morticians’ Monday Morning Mashup, 4M #118, where we’ll serve up bite-sized, easily-digestible nuggets of the deathcare news you need to crush conversations in the week ahead. Bon appetit!
This newsletter is powered by MemoryShare, a funeral livestreaming platform that you can set up in 30 seconds or less.
Could it be COVID?
Once again, Chinese deathcare professionals are working overtime as the country battles an outbreak of “pneumonia,” which some believe is actually a different strain of COVID-19. Death rates have been rising in areas with high populations since September, which has put a strain on funeral homes. While the ruling Chinese Communist Party is denying the illness is COVID-related, they did admit in mid-December that a separate illness that has been circulating is indeed a COVID variant. One outlet writes that several private funeral homes have opened as death tolls have increased over the last three years, and that “business is booming.”
Festivus (report) for the rest of us
In the recently-released ninth annual “Festivus” Report, U.S. Senator Rand Paul, ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, reveals an incredibly egregious list of expensive, wasteful government projects. This year, according to the report, more than $900 billion (yes, with a “b”) of taxpayer money was squandered on things like:
- A $2.7 million grant to the the National Institutes of Health to study Russian cats walking on a treadmill (among other studies),
- COVID Paycheck Protection Program funds paid to fraudsters who used photos of Barbie doll faces as proof of identification,
- $169 million in military equipment that was ruined because it was left outside, and
- $200 million in SBA loans to “struggling” music artists like Post Malone, Chris Brown, and Lil Wayne.
And, of course, there were the usual (yet nonetheless reckless and ridiculous) government payments to deceased people. According to the report, $38 million in COVID payments went to people who the government had already been informed were dead. Thirty of those individuals had been gone for more than a year. At least it wasn’t as bad as 2020, when the U.S. Treasury sent $1.4 billion in COVID stimulus to more than one million deceased Americans.
A mistletoast to you
As we’re publishing this 4M on Christmas Day (and especially after those first two items in this edition), it just seems right to share some good news from deathcareland. Congratulations and kudos to:
- Scott Found, owner of Found and Sons Funeral and Cremation Services in Virginia, who was awarded the 2023 L.B. Henretty Memorial Outstanding Award and was named the Culpeper Times Citizen of the Year 2023 for his commitment to community programs, grief support initiatives, and charitable work.
- Vince Lima, third-generation owner of Lima & Campagna Mortuary in California, who continues his grandfather’s 70+ year tradition of lavishly decorating trees for the community to enjoy.
- Catholic Cemeteries of Northeast Kansas, who in January will begin hosting monthly Masses at several of their properties to commemorate persons buried and entombed there.
- Dimond & Sons funeral home in Arizona, which is providing services free of charge for a family who lost five children in a house fire last week.
Say goodbye to Facebook
If you’re using Facebook for live streaming, does this sound familiar?
- Copyrighted music is silenced (even with proper certifications!)
- Advertisements out of your control pop up during the livestream
- It’s difficult for families to access because it requires a Facebook account
This is why Carlton Stevens Jr., Operations Manager and Mortician at Stevens Funeral Home in North Carolina, said goodbye to Facebook and switched to MemoryShare—a live streaming platform built specifically for funeral professionals.
“Now, families don’t have to worry about Facebook accounts. It works, and it’s easy to use,” Carlton said. “It’s the best, I’m telling you. It’s liquid gold.”
After he started offering live streaming during the pandemic, Carlton saw Stevens Funeral Home call volume bump from 20 calls to 41 calls.
Today, Stevens Funeral Home live streams a service every other day.
And with MemoryShare, all they have to do is push a button.
“It’s a no brainer,” Carlton said.
Read how Carlton is using livestreaming to grow his business in our latest case study—click here to read it!
