Sep 03, 2020
Meet The Director, an exciting new web series that promotes and showcases the work of our clients. Each month Craig Meehan, ASD’s National Sales Manager, will host funeral professionals who have compelling stories to share. Whether you’re brand new to the industry or have been serving families for decades, you will be reassured why this career path is one of the most rewarding. The intriguing stories shared in each episode are designed to brighten your day and motivate you to tailor each family’s grieving process with a meaningful personalized touch. The COVID-19 pandemic has really put into full focus just how essential funeral professionals are to our society so we wanted to shine a spotlight on the often overlooked work they do every day.
The Meet The Director web series is not about ASD or the services we offer. Our primary objective in this series is to promote our clients and showcase the amazing work they do on a day-to-day basis. We hope that anyone who watches can learn from the stories presented in each episode. The funeral profession is comprised of the most compassionate and caring individuals whom communities turn to in their time of absolute need. Funeral directors are very important essential workers, but are seldom acknowledged for their work they do. Now that people are glued to their screens, we are given the perfect chance to feature their stories and ensure they get the credit they deserve.
Episode 1: Christian’s Campfire Celebration of Life Service
In the first episode of Meet the Director, we share the story of the Robbins Family who turned to the Einan’s at Sunset Gardens Funeral Home in Richmond, WA after the devastating loss of their 16-year-old son Christian Robbins. Christian’s Father, Ted Robbins, joins us along with Funeral Directors, Holley Sowards and Ron Swanson to illustrate how this celebration of life named, “Christian’s Campfire” came to light. In this candid conversion, Holley and Ron unveil how they transformed their funeral home into a campground themed service while Ted explains explain how his family’s collaboration with the funeral home team helped them achieve such a meaningful service for Christian amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and time constraints.
The Robbins family sadly lost Christian to mental illness, which led to suicide. Christian was an intelligent, very self-aware young man who was advocating for mental health issues. In the interview, Ted discusses how the funeral home staff was instrumental in helping him and his family heal after such a difficult and traumatic loss. His inspiring words really capture why funerals are so crucial to helping families cope with their grief. During this episode, we also get to help Christian’s mission by showing a video he made with his thoughts on mental health and where we need to move forward.
“We’re not a firm that’ going to say no. Every life has a story and to respect that life at the most critical time, for the family to be able to start healing through honoring his wishes, that was our first priority here,” explains Funeral Director, Ron Swanson. “It was really an experience for all of us that will be talked about forever. Christian even though he’s gone has made an impact on every body here and is still making an impact so we were honored to be a part of that.”
Whether you’re brand new to the funeral profession or have been serving families for decades, Meet the Funeral Director was created to shine a spotlight on why this career path is one of the most rewarding. If you or someone from your funeral home team is interested in being featured in an upcoming episode, please contact ASD National Sales Manager, Craig Meehan, at 800-8686-9950 or email Craig@myASD.com.
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About The Author
Jess Farren (Fowler)
Jess Farren (Fowler) is a Public Relations Specialist and Staff Writer who has been a part of the ASD team since 2003. Jess manages ASD’s company blog and has been published in several funeral trade magazines. She has written articles on a variety of subjects including communication, business planning, technology, marketing and funeral trends. You can contact Jess directly at Jess@myASD.com
