A press release from Batesville last week announced additional resources being put into the “Living Memorial” program by Batesville.  The company announced it “is doubling down on its mission of helping families honor the lives of those they love^® with an enhancement to its Living Memorial^® tree planting program that gives families the opportunity to plant additional trees as a tribute to their loved ones.”

 

Batesville has reforested America’s forests and helped to re-establish thousands of acres in national forests to the tune of over 1.45 million trees planted since the program inception in 1976.  Their new initiative will go even further. . . . Batesville will not only plant a single tree for each service as they have done for almost five decades but they will now give families the opportunity to plant additional trees and Batesville will match “tree for tree” whatever amount of trees the family chooses.

 

Going forward,  “A brochure introducing the new matching tree donation program will be provided with the initial Living Memorial letter from Batesville. Families who purchase memorial trees will receive a digital certificate with their loved one’s name to commemorate the planting.”

 

According to Batesville, “For more than 45 years, Batesville has planted Living Memorial trees as a gesture of support for families who selected its products. At the funeral director’s request, families receive a letter of condolence with a certificate acknowledging a tree will be planted in memory of their loved one. The company has received thousands of letters with personal stories about trips to national forests, camping, gardening, or their loved one’s passion for the outdoors. Humbled by the kind gesture, many have asked if they could plant additional memorial trees.

This offering builds on that strong legacy by making it easy for families to unite in creating their own living memorials.”

 

You can learn more about Batesville’s Memorial Tree Program by clicking here.

 

Funeral Director Daily take:  When I started as a funeral director in 1980 this program was in its 5th year.  It was just part of our paperwork that for each client family that used a Batesville product we had a postcard sent back to Batesville with information on it that set the ball rolling for a Living Memorial tree to be planted in their memory.

 

At our funeral home we never really told families about the memorial at the time of arrangements.  They would then be pleasantly surprised when a letter and certificate showed up a couple of weeks later from Batesville letting them know that a tree was being planted in a national forest in their deceased loved one’s memory.  The gesture led to a lot of grateful and appreciative families.

 

When you think about it and look at how the world has turned to ecology and environmentalism over the past five decades, Batesville not only did a good thing, but they were ahead of their time in watching out for our planet.

 

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