Funeral Service Foundation and Homesteaders Life Company Announce Major Gifts in Response to Iowa Flooding, Request Others to Join in Support
Brookfield, Wis. – In response to the recent, devastating floods affecting Northern and Northwestern Iowa, the Funeral Service Foundation and Homesteaders Life Company have pledged a combined $20,000 to the Iowa Funeral Directors Association’s Flood Relief Fund.
“The Northwest Iowa flood managed to take away more than anyone could have imagined, catastrophizing Spencer, and severely damaging several other communities,” said Danielle Knapp, CEO of the Iowa Funeral Directors Association (IFDA). “Currently, we know that we have a few members who have lost either their funeral home or personal home as well as vehicles and belongings. It is our hope that they can rebuild and be even stronger, but we know it will take months, probably even years to recover. Contributions like this help to make that happen. So, on behalf of IFDA and our members, I am thankful for the Foundation’s and Homesteader’s generosity and support.”
Homesteaders Life Company, a preneed insurance company based in West Des Moines, Iowa, has joined the Foundation in pledging $10,000 to support the rebuilding effort. “Funeral providers are often the first to raise their hands when communities are in need,” said Steve Shaffer, Homesteaders President, CEO and Board Chair. “They do so much to enrich the lives of the families they serve. It is an honor and a privilege to do for them what so many funeral providers have and continue to do for their communities.”
Additionally, the Funeral Service Foundation’s Grants Committee has approved a $10,000 grant from the Foundation’s Crisis Response and Discretionary Funds. “The Foundation’s Crisis Response Fund was endowed last year after the Maui wildfires, with the generous contributions from individuals and corporate partners for this very purpose, to provide immediate support for funeral service,” said Mark Krause, the Foundation’s Board Chair. “We know that these grants help, but we need others to join in support. On behalf of the IFDA, Homesteaders and the Funeral Service Foundation, we encourage our community in funeral service to join us by making a gift today.”
Donate Now: To support the Iowa Funeral Directors Association – Flood Relief Fund, please send a tax-deductible donation to: Iowa Funeral Directors Association, 6909 Vista Drive, West Des Moines, Iowa 50266 (Memo: Flood Relief)
To contact the Iowa Funeral Directors Association please call: 515-270-0130
Online donations can also be made to the Funeral Service Foundation’s Crisis Response Fund – Iowa
Flood Relief page at: https://www.funeralservicefoundation.org/crisis-response-fund-iowa/.
About the Crisis Response Fund
Created from funeral professionals’ requests to support relief efforts following the devastating tsunami in 2004, the Crisis Response Fund offers urgently needed funding in the wake of regional, national, or international crises. The Foundation funded the Hurricane Katrina Memorial in 2010, offered support following other natural disasters and emergent situations, and most recently, awarded more than
$500,000 in COVID-19 relief grants and $50,000 in support of the Children’s Bereavement Center of South Texas in the wake of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
About the Funeral Service Foundation – FuneralServiceFoundation.org
Since 1945, the Funeral Service Foundation has served as the philanthropic voice of the funeral profession and has identified as the charitable arm of the National Funeral Directors Association since 1997. Donors and volunteer leaders profession-wide support the Foundation in its mission of investing in people and programs to strengthen funeral service and lift up grieving communities.
About Homesteaders Life Company- HomesteadersLife.com
Homesteaders Life Company, a preneed insurance company based in West Des Moines, Iowa, is a national leader providing products and services to promote and support the funding of advance funeral planning and end-of-life expenses. Homesteaders has an A- (Excellent) rating from AM Best, most recently affirmed in May 2024, and is a trusted, reliable and secure source of end-of-life funding for thousands of funeral professionals and the families they serve.
