When families are grieving after the loss of a loved one, arrangements need to be made, but one local company believes the process should be as comfortable and affordable as possible.
“People will often say that I must have a difficult job because I’m working with families at such sad times, but it’s about building trust and connections so we can help,” says Jaron Chasca, manager and funeral director of Lake Country’s Alternatives Funeral & Cremation Services. “The circumstances are sad, but the relationships we build are so meaningful.”
As a second-generation funeral director, Chasca followed his father into the locally owned family business, which offers everything from basic cremation to full, traditional burials. Their focus from the start has been to provide families comfortable, affordable and common-sense funeral services.
Taking a different approach
- “Unlike many in the industry, we don’t use commissioned sales people,” Chasca notes. “We provide families with the various options available for them and let them decide what’s best for them.” Similarly, Alternatives Funeral & Cremation Services keeps their own overhead lower to keep the costs lower for families.
- “The second guiding principle we’ve followed since the beginning is that we come to you,” Chasca says. “We recognize this is a difficult time and being able to have the conversation from the comfort of their home makes a big difference for many people.” The philosophy resonates with families. “We were established in 1992 on the basis of home service and we’ve grown to become the largest, independently owned funeral providers in Western Canada,” notes Chasca, who calls the Okanagan home.
- The full-service funeral home, offering cremation, funeral, memorial service and alternative event options, also specializes in environmentally friendly green options through the products it uses. “Our company is one of the few in B.C. companies that is certified green,” Chasca says.
All of these various options and choices point to a significant industry trend, and that’s to plan ahead. The benefits of pre-planning for your funeral needs are many, Chasca notes. Not only are there financial benefits of securing services at today’s rates, but planning ahead considerably decreases stress for loved ones by removing many of the myriad decisions that must be made when they are already grieving. And for those with a specific idea of the arrangements they want, pre-planning allows that too.
“While broaching the topic of funeral planning isn’t easy, we encourage our clients to have the discussion with their families – there are so many benefits.”
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Serving families since 1992, and in the Okanagan since 2003, Alternatives Funeral & Cremation Services is marking a year in the growing Lake Country community.