URGENT
NEW—Call for Funeral Director Relief Assistance
Three-week employment available

Thank you to the hundreds of NFDA members and funeral directors who have demonstrated their care and concern for families and funeral directors devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Our collective work as a profession is now beginning to be more heavily needed.

Over the holiday weekend and the last several days, NFDA has been in constant contact with FEMA, DMORT, and the LA and MS Funeral Directors Associations. NFDA is proud of the good work our state associations are doing during this time of crisis, and we share their frustrations regarding the difficulties of working with the agencies involved with orchestrating a massive, cooperative disaster-management effort.

This afternoon, NFDA received a call from relief and recovery authorities working with FEMA. FEMA and DMORT are aware that NFDA has compiled a list of funeral directors willing to help and provide their expertise. We have also been informed that FEMA will be holding a news conference sometime later today.

We are glad to finally be able to report some specific news from federal officials related to the recovery efforts. The company that FEMA has chosen to outsource the recovery work in Louisiana is Kenyon, a worldwide disaster management company, wholly owned subsidiary of Service Corporation International. Kenyon asked us to share the names and phone numbers of NFDA members and funeral directors who are interested in a paid three-week employment situation. If you have already volunteered with NFDA, we’d like to let you know about this paid option to help. We will only forward your name if you return this email to us via fax granting your permission to forward your name to Kenyon.

If you have not yet volunteered, this temporary employment is available to licensed funeral directors and embalmers now. NFDA has been told that the temporary job involves the necessary work of recovering bodies and other disaster response needs.

We will be sharing an initial list of those interested in this temporary employment this evening and tomorrow. PLEASE FAX BACK your permission IMMEDIATELY if you would like NFDA to share your name and number for this specific effort.
Print out this email and fax to NFDA @ (262) 789-6977 or call 800-228-6332.

___ Yes, it is okay to share my name and number with authorities for this employment situation.

Name_____________________________

Funeral home name__________________________

Primary phone #_____________________

Secondary #, (indicate if cell) ________________________

Thank you again for your ongoing support of NFDA, the state associations dealing with the disaster and, most of all, your fellow colleagues in dire need. NFDA IS continuing its original volunteer effort in support of the LA and MS Funeral Director Associations. In the coming days, they will have ongoing needs and we will keep you posted as specific calls for help become known.

___ I’m not interested in this position, but please keep my name on the NFDA volunteer list.
(Visit www.nfda.org or 800-228-6332 or (262) 789-6977 for this form.)

Stay tuned to www.nfda.org and the NFDA Bulletin for the latest news on Katrina relief and recovery.