Volunteers help ease the pain and cost of funerals

Called Le Lendemain, the association has been running in Le Châtelet-en-Brie, Seine-et-Marne since 1912 when a group of four men looked for ways to help the less-well-off to afford funeral services.

Today it helps about 25-30 families each year and offers moral and financial support when it is most needed – with volunteers also helping to reduce the cost of funeral services by carrying out some of the tasks themselves.

With modest funerals costing about €4-5,000 the association can help cut this by about €1,500. Association president Maur­ice Boucheny said it could do so because it had its own hearse, drivers and pallbearers to do some of the work that funeral directors would normally charge for.

“We have about a dozen volunteers for this but we do not do the burial. One of the most important things we do is to give moral support to the families as well as helping them to cope with all the legal work and registration that has to be done in a very short timescale.

“On top of this we can offer each family a cheque for about €800 that we collect from 1900 or so members of the association who each give 40 centimes for each death.

“People who are members of the association benefit and while it does not cost much it makes a great difference. It’s only a few euros a year and we know people appreciate it.

“Our association is open to anyone with links to the commune and we deal with families in an area 100km around.

“Most members are young adults and our subscriptions are €4 for children, €30 for under-60s and €20 for those 71-75.

“We’re not out to make money, just to make a difference. If more people join we can offer more services.”

Mr Boucheny said he has had calls from Tours and Bordeaux from people interested in doing something similar but there has been difficulty in getting agreements locally although Le Lendemain worked well with funeral directors.