After
the death of a loved one, we're forced to handle arrangements we’ve never had
to face before. These sites can help.
When we face the
death of a loved one, we often find ourselves handling arrangements and
answering questions we’ve never had to face before — all while we’re often
blindsided by grief.
The people who
launched these five websites all found themselves dealing with death and grief,
and they couldn’t find the answers they were searching for. So, they came up
with their own solutions. Here’s how they can help.
1. Lantern: For
assistance managing details and logistics
When Liz Eddy’s
grandmother passed away in 2018, the team at her grandmother’s nursing home
asked her what she wanted to do next. She discovered she was completely
unprepared to manage the process. She muddled through, but thought that going
forward, there should be a better option.
She turned to Alyssa
Ruderman for help, and together the two New York City–based women founded Lantern, a site that offers guidance to people
before and after the death of a loved one. With Lantern, you answer four
questions and the site creates a free checklist tailored to your needs. It
steps you through funeral planning, writing an obituary, closing digital
accounts, benefits eligibility and more.
2. What’s Your
Grief?: For guidance through the grieving process
Everyone grieves
differently, but it can be comforting to learn more about the process and how
other people manage their grief. Litsa Williams and Eleanor Haley, mental
health professionals based in Baltimore with more than 20 years of experience
in grief and bereavement, founded What’s Your
Grief? after each of them lost a parent.
The site offers a
range of free articles covering topics like understanding grief, memorials,
holidays, emotion, and types of grief. You can join ecourses that cost $50 or
less and can help you navigate grief, explore grief through photography or
journaling, and more. The team also hosts live events in Baltimore, and
schedules webinars.
3. Grief Coach: For
personalized, ongoing support after loss
Emma Payne of Seattle
founded Grief Coach, a company
that sends personalized text messages for one year for $99.
“I created Grief
Coach to answer the question of ‘I want to help, but don’t know how.’”
–Emma Payne
Payne lost her
husband, and then a decade later lost his best friend. “After delivering the
eulogy at my friend’s funeral, I was overwhelmed by the countless friends and
family members who wanted to apologize for not having been there for me when my
husband died. They were afraid, they said, and just didn’t know what to do. I
created Grief Coach to answer the question of ‘I want to help, but don’t know
how,’” she says.
Grief coach can help
a person who is grieving, and can also send tips and reminders to friends and
family. The text messages are delivered twice a week and on significant dates.
They are personalized based on your relationship to the deceased and the cause
of death if you choose to share it.
4. Give InKind: For
answering, “Let me know if there’s anything I can do”
Laura Malcolm of
Seattle founded Give InKind after
her daughter was stillborn. Her friends and family wanted to help, but often
didn’t know what to do. She found herself inundated with flowers. “I was asking
people when they came over to rinse and wash the vases,” she says.
With Give InKind, you
can consolidate a calendar, wishlist, and fundraising site all in one place,
for free. Maybe you need pet care while you travel out of state, photos
gathered to share at a memorial service or money to defray funeral costs. Your
friends and family can access your page and connect with the help you need. The
site is useful for people facing a
health crisis as well as those who are dealing with the loss of
a loved one.
Ali Briggs and
Rachele Louis of Chicago founded LifeWeb 360,
a multimedia scrapbook that helps people preserve the memories of a loved one.
They were inspired to launch the site after the death of a friend’s brother —
over time, the friend found he and others were losing their memories of his
brother.
On the site, you can
upload photos, videos, voicemails, and texts to your loved one’s LifeWeb for
free. You can invite friends and family members to contribute their own
memories as well.
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