3 Roles People Can Fill to Help You During a Funeral

When a loved one passes away and people begin to reach out to you to offer their condolences, these messages of sympathy are often paired with an offer to lend a hand. While some people ask for help with food preparation or even childcare, you should also think forward a few days to the funeral service and consider how you may be able to involve those who are pledging their assistance.

Although your family members and the funeral home staff will be playing various roles on the day of the service, there are often some other duties that you can offer to those who wish to help you. Here are some suggestions.

Assist with Driving

There may be a number of people who wish to attend the funeral but do not drive. This may especially be the case if your recently deceased family member was elderly and had many elderly peers. It's nice to offer some transportation to those who may not otherwise be able to attend. If you have a few people who wish to help you and are capable drivers, you may wish to connect them with people who need a ride to the funeral service.

Help With Multimedia

If you're putting together a video production or even a digital slideshow that tells the story of your loved one's life, doing so can take a considerable amount of time and also be emotionally draining. If someone who has offered to help is highly skilled with such matters, you may wish to think about turning this project over to him or her.

You can supply the individual with a DVD of photos and a few thoughts about how you wish the multimedia production to go, and then have the person complete the project in advance of the funeral service. This project is a valuable addition to the funeral arrangements, and having it off your to-do list will free you up for other matters.

Open Their Homes to Guests

In some cases, you may wish to ask those who offer their help to host out-of-town guests. This works best if the people all know each other, but it can be a handy way for those traveling to the service to save money that they'd otherwise spend on a hotel. For example, if your brother-in-law offers help, you may see if he could host a second cousin and her spouse coming to town.