Digital Companies Step Up in Crisis

by Rebecca Roberts Galloway | Apr 28, 2020

As families cope with challenging restrictions during the COVID-19 crisis, a number of digital end-of-life and death care companies are stepping up and collaborating to serve them. Solace is proud to be among those businesses providing digital solutions, but today we’d like to highlight a few of our colleagues.

Recently, two online companies, Lifeweb360.com and New Narrative Memorials, have joined forces by producing a free guide for families (“How to Plan a Virtual Service”). The download is free, but registration is required.

GatheringUs is another company providing virtual gatherings. They have the feel of an in-person event and real-time interaction, their CEO, Noha Waibsnaider tells Solace.

“Human connection is essential to human wellbeing,” she explained. “We’re innately wired to be together. It’s especially critical to ‘be’ with friends and family when we’re mourning a loss, as the support of our communities is what helps us heal and move through the grief process. Our mission is even more urgent today as we face restrictions to our physical contact.”

Lantern, an online company that describes itself as “a single source of guidance for navigating life before and after a death,” has created another free resource, “How to Navigate End of Life During a Pandemic” including links for writing a will, finding grief support, information on creative funeral ideas, finding mental health help and much more.

Cake says it offers “the easiest way to discover, store, and share your end-of-life preferences.” The company’s blog offers several COVID-related articles including this round-up of resources.

Much has been written lately about the many new ways to say goodbye and as GatheringUs’s Waibsnaider told us, some of these new ways are likely to stick around.

“Now that our society is creating new rituals and ceremonies for virtual gatherings, we will continue to use them and integrate them into our gatherings in the future,” Waibsnaider said.

Solace Cremation was founded with digital tools to make a difficult time easier, and without in-person meetings, we are able to continue to safely serve our families. But though we value the changes the digital process is bringing to the industry, at heart, our businesses are all people-powered, driven to serve by compassion and caring.

Photo by Pietro Jeng