DE PERE (NBC26) — The Federal Emergency Management Agency will provide financial assistance to help cover funeral expenses for people who lost loved ones due to COVID-19.
FEMA announced Wednesday it will offer up to $9,000 per funeral and a maximum of $35,000 for those that lost multiple family members. The program extends aid for COVID-19 related funeral costs incurred after Jan. 20, 2020.
Matt Cotter, funeral director and owner of Cotter Funeral & Cremation Care in De Pere, said this help is overdue for many in Northeast Wisconsin.
“Families that have lost loved ones have been struggling constantly since this started a year ago. It’s been a very dark year for our area," Cotter said.
Over the course of the pandemic, Cotter said they've had many funerals for COVID related deaths. He said the majority were in the fall.
Cotter said funerals at the home cost on average $7,000 or more.
"A lot of families weren’t financially prepared for this," Cotter said. "So having up to $9,000 at their disposal when they didn’t have anything else in place, and a non-budgeted expense, is absolutely great.”
Cotter said there are about a dozen families they've served might qualify for FEMA's program. He said staff will be sending then letters on how to apply if they're eligible.
The money for this program will come from the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021 and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
This assistance is meant to help with expenses for funeral services and interment or cremation.
Jenny Boeckman, the grief services director at Unity Hospice, said there are people in their support groups who've lost loved ones due to the coronavirus. She said this kind of aid can help people through the different stages of grief.
“When someone experiences a death, that grief that they experience is like wave upon wave: There’s a wave of emotions; there’s a wave of how your body is feeling; there’s a wave of your spiritual; there’s a wave of financial. So as much as we can lessen what those waves are, that impact, we can let people stand and keep going," Boeckman said.
FEMA will begin accepting applications in April. In the meantime, the agency encourages people to gather an official death certificate that attributes the death directly or indirectly to COVID-19 and shows that the death occurred in the United States; funeral expense documents; and proof of any funds received from other sources used toward funeral costs.
Unity Hospice offers free grief support to anyone who has experienced death in the community. People can call 800-990-9249 to connect with an individual or a group.
