Keeping It Personal Awards

Green Hills Memorial Park – Rancho Palos Verdes, California

Over the last several years, Green Hills Memorial Park has seen the loss of hope by so many young people who chose to end their own lives. H2oLyfe is a movement that aims to help those affected by hopelessness to find a community in one another and utilize water activities to open their hearts and minds to the hope that life provides. H2oLyfe shares the stoke of the ocean with the young people in their community to remind them of the easy access to this calming resource. Fun skills and activities on the water to build confidence, happiness, and camaraderie. They believe having a Blue Mind, or a mildly meditative state characterized by calm, peace, and unity, can help anyone who may be experiencing mental illness, be it temporary or long term.

Jefferson Memorial Park, Funeral Home, Crematory & Arboretum – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 

In August 2022, Jefferson Memorial Par, held its 10th Annual Car Cruise which raised over $2,200 in support of the American Cancer Society. To follow this event and to continue its charitable outreach with the American Cancer Society, Jefferson Memorial Park hosted its first-ever Paint the Park Pink in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and all the families we serve who have lost a loved one to cancer. Paint the Park Pink was held the first weekend in October and partnered with Relay for Life/American Cancer Society Northeast Region to provide free pink flowers to all families visiting a loved one at the cemetery to place at their graveside. Cemetery staff met with families and answered pre-planning questions, handed out maps, surveys, and assisted families navigate the cemetery grounds. The Relay for Life/American Cancer Society Northeast Region staff also met with families and discuss activities, programs, fundraising and provide more information for those seeking cancer resources.  

Washington Park Cemetery Association/Buchanan Group – Indianapolis, Indiana

In partnership with the Buchanan Group, Washington Park Cemetery Association commemorated the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks and the lives lost by unveiling the 9/11 Memorial. This symbolic memorial features 2,977 medallions with the names of those who lost their lives, and the nine fallen Hoosiers have a blue state of Indiana medallion added to their names. The medallions are suspended from the ceiling which forms the shape of “9/11”. With the help of Washington Park Cemetery, artist Arlon Bayliss, Bob and Mark Buchanan, Buchanan Group’s President Tony Lloyd, was able to create the 9/11 Memorial in a way that was both innovative and impactful.

Hillside Cemetery – Wilton, Connecticut

To safely engage the local community, and to tie-in with the 100-year anniversary of Women’s Right to Vote, Hillside Cemetery’s Executive Administrator Pamela Brown created Champions of Change: A Celebration of Women’s History. This self-guided walking tour recognizes local women and their significant contributions to Wilton and beyond. By walking this new annual tour, you’ll meet women who will not only educate, but inspire you to realize the power within you to help make your community the place you want it to be now and in the future.

Gather – Meridian, Idaho 

KeepTrack™ by Gather was built for single to multi-location funeral homes, crematories, and trade businesses who are looking for a body tracking system to keep better track of their chain of custody, prevent body or belonging mix-ups, reduce legal liability, and boost their reputation. The hardware includes tracking tags, keepsake medallions, and a cloud-based integrated software system. Funeral homes and crematories can view any case and track the location of every decedent using a digital whiteboard and build customizable workflows and task lists. Simultaneously, they can build beautiful Remember Pages for families to view and interact with to honor their loved ones for years to come. In addition to several more features, users receive a dedicated account manager and unlimited support at no extra cost.

Chronicle Cemetery Software – Victoria, Australia 

Founded in Melbourne, Australia, Chronicle’s goal is to enhance community engagement with the cemeteries by helping digitize and maintain accurate cemetery records, making cemetery management more effective, safer, and meaningful. Over the last four years, Chronicle has helped 200+ cemeteries worldwide efficiently manage their records and elegantly share their deceased details online. Chronicle is an easy-to-use cloud-based cemetery management software that combines high-quality burial plot mapping with deceased records to create an immersive user experience. The user-friendly daily management tools and interactive mapping technology allow the public to locate the graves of their loved ones, reserve a plot for future use, and create digital memorials for the departed. 

AFTR – Brooklyn, New York

Founded in 2018, AFTR is a product that sets out to increase accessibility to burial sites for family and loved ones to be there when they cannot, changing the way people visit burial sites. With two camera types to choose from, GroundCam and MountCam, visiting your loved ones has never been easier. Through AFTR’s solar-powered and weatherproof camera and subscription-based app for iOS and Android, families can connect to their loved one and ensure their memorial is being cared for.

The Visit Box – Windsor, Colorado

After losing her father unexpectedly during the COVID-19 pandemic and experiencing gravesite mementos being lost, Regan Espinosa created The Visit Box. This patent pending weatherproof box allows families and friends to securely store items and tokens at their loved one’s gravesite. This innovative product offers a solution to families’ fear of having their mementos lost or damaged.

Capstone Technologies – Haines City, Florida

The Memory Maker is a web-based video recording app that captures the memories, stories, and condolences of mourners. By clicking on a link or scanning a customized QR code, families and friends are able to leave a video recording on any web-connected device. These videos can be shared and stored for later viewing. Funeral directors can post their clients’ Memory Maker link in their obituary, give it to the family to share on social media, and even print their custom QR code in the funeral bulletin or in a sign to display at the funeral. This virtual product has the option of adding a physical component – funeral homes can download the videos and store them on a DVD or flash drive for the family to keep.

TribuCast™ – Wilton, Connecticut

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, TribuCast further innovated their product to further meet their clients’ needs for the present as well as the future. The TribuCast™ Remote Attendance System™ creates a private online environment that closely matches the in-person experience of attending a funeral. Thanks to new technology, the product has the capacity to enable clergy, eulogists, and even musicians to contribute to the service from a variety of locations by using special effects including split-screen, screen-share, and more. Using TribuCast™ helps all loved ones grieve more effectively by including those who can’t be there in person and by creating a highly personalized enduring tribute to the life that was lost. Through its easy-to-use live stream technology and interactive touchpoints, TribuCast™ helps share family history and fond memories and put the life that was lost into greater context for both in-person and remote attendees.

Parting Stone – Santa Fe, New Mexico

Parting Stone provides a service that offers a solid alternative to cremated remains. Families now have the option of receiving either “ashes” or “stones” following cremation. The shape, color, size, and texture of the solidified remains is 100% natural and varies depending on each unique batch of remains provided to their lab. Parting Stone’s solidification technology introduces a new form of human and animal remains and creates an entirely new category in death care. “Folks want permanent memorialization of their loss but, sometimes, just don’t know what to do with a box of ashes,” says Larry Stuart Jr., CEO of Cremation Strategies & Consulting. “The idea that remains can be offered as stones is monumental.” Click here to watch Parting Stone’s video.

TribuCast™ – Wilton, Connecticut

The Domani Group – Orem, Utah

Most aftercare programs are personalized and time-consuming, or efficient and impersonal. Because of the lack of time funeral home staff may have, The Domani Group developed Domanicare. Domanicare is a text message-based aftercare program that sends custom, personalized text messages that check in on the recently served families during their grieving. If the families respond, a highly-trained and compassionate staff responds, who continues this conversation with support. If the family has questions, the conversation is escalated and sent right away to the funeral home. All of the conversations are compiled and sent to the funeral home in a monthly report so they can see what families are saying about their services.

UPD Urns – Manassas, Virginia