Martin Funeral Cremation & Tribute Services: Helping With The Loss Of A Child

Fairgrove, Grand Blanc, Mt. Morris, and Vassar, MI.- Losing a child is one of the most difficult experiences a family can go through. Often, traditional grief counselling isn’t enough. In order to help a family that has suffered such a loss, it is sometimes required to go above and beyond the call of duty. Martin Funeral Cremation & Tribute Services is one funeral home that has risen to the task of helping families deal with the loss of a child, and has done it in a big way. 

After losing their own child, the owners of Martin Funeral Cremation & Tribute Services decided to help other families in their community. The funeral home organizes a series of events every October that are dedicated to Infant Loss Awareness Month. Each of the funeral homes participate in a Remembrance Candle Showcase, a social media campaign to generate awareness, and finally a Fly and Remember ceremony.

The month long celebration begins with an ongoing showcase where candles are lit with the names and photos of infants that have been lost on display.  The showcase runs to remember and honor the lives of the lost children.  A social media campaign is run to bring awareness to “Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Month”.   The campaign culminates in a candle lighting ceremony on October 15th which is “Remembrance Day”.

The month long event culminates in the “Fly and Remember” event.  This is an event that occurs in three parts.  A guest speaker addresses the parents to discuss: dealing with loss, helpful grieving tips, and offer encouragement and support.  While the parents are watching the guest speaker, children work with local hospice workers. The children create crafts in memory of their parents and siblings they’ve lost.  The crafts are created to help the children express their feelings and emotions.  The event concludes with a lantern ceremony.  The families are reunited and given a lantern to write special messages to their loved one on.  The lanterns are then all released together to light up the sky.

The event has been a huge success with families attending annually for the event.  During the event in the past year, over 50 candles were on display for the remembrance showcase.  The social media campaign also generated a lot of awareness for Infant Loss Awareness Month and helped educate people.  Finally, the Fly and Remember ceremony provides parents with sense of hope and feeling that they are not alone.  Families are able to grieve together and offer support for one another.

Is there a funeral home in your area that’s doing great things for their community?  Let us know in the comment section below.  The best of the best will be highlighted in our series.