By Matt Wiley
Planning for your own death — or the death of a loved one — can be an emotionally overwhelming task, especially without proper planning. However, whether planning ahead for yourself in order to spare loved ones the trouble, or if a loved one has suddenly passed, the friendly and comforting staff at Sunset Funeral Home & Memory Gardens is here to help.
Located just a few miles southeast of New Tampa, in nearby Thonotosassa, Sunset Funeral Home & Memory Gardens has everything you and your family need to plan for a proper funeral ceremony, burial or cremation, as well as a staff of 20 with the guidance and expertise to help send your loved ones off with a celebration of their lives, rather than a somber service.
Part of the Dignity Memorial national network of funeral, cremation and cemetery providers, Sunset is a full-service funeral home and burial site, located on 60 acres off U.S. 301. The lobby, painted a brightly lit aqua blue, feels a lot less like a funeral home and much more like a hotel. The funeral service space looks and feels like a comfortable social gathering space where meals might be served, rather than a place where funerals are held.
“The main thing is, when someone passes away, the family members have so many emotions,” says Sunset funeral home supervisor Sandra Ramirez O’Connor. “The most important thing is to choose a funeral home or cremation center, finalize the death certificate information and all of the details. Many times, families are in shock and don’t know what to do.”
O’Connor explains that it is never too early to begin funeral pre-planning. In fact, she says, the younger, the better.
Never Too Early To Plan
“Some people say that they have a life insurance policy,” O’Connor explains. “But, that doesn’t really mean anything for funeral planning. It just means that you have some money set aside. What about the details? All of the details that you don’t take care of, your loved ones will have to deal with. Sometimes they don’t know what you would want, and they feel bad.”
To help with the funeral and burial process, Sunset offers funeral preplanning, or prearranging services, which allow you and your family to make the decisions about how you want your funeral, burial or cremation to be performed, together. The little details such as what casket, urn or flowers you would want present at the service are covered extensively with the funeral director at a time when it certainly is easier to concentrate. The difficult decisions are eased with planning ahead.
“One of the biggest misconceptions is that preplanning is only for the elderly,” says Sunset sales manager Giovanni Caballero, a Cross Creek resident. “Funeral preplanning or prearranging is for anyone that is interested in sharing their desires, relieving their family of having to make difficult choices and bear unnecessary expenses and making important decisions for you, without the pressure of illness or circumstance.”
Sunset also provides “pre-need life insurance,” or an insurance policy that covers the cost of the predetermined expenses of a funeral, cremation or burial, which can include standard funeral home services, funeral merchandise and church services. The idea is to set aside funds for your funeral before the need arises, assuring that you and your family will pay current costs.
Many companies offer “final expense” insurance policies, but these policies set aside money for the future use of paying for a funeral at the time of a loved one’s death, without actually purchasing anything. With these policies, there is no guarantee that the policy will cover all of the expenses that arise when the funeral is needed.
Prepayment Programs
With preplanning, Sunset even offers numerous payment options.
“You can make a single premium payment and owe nothing, if you’d like,” explains Caballero. “Or, you can choose a plan that provides insurance coverage, while you make payments over several years. You can even have payments taken from your bank account automatically.”
Payments and policies are not the only way that Sunset offers superior customer service to you and your family. As part of the Dignity family, Sunset also is able to offer numerous other services to help ease extra stress during a time of great loss. Dignity and Sunset also offer a “Family Protection Plan,” which forgives any balance if you should pass before your plan is paid off.
Dignity and Sunset also offer a child and grandchild protection plan. If something were to happen to a client’s child or grandchild, at no cost to the client, Sunset will cover the cost of the funeral up to the amount of the service that the client had already purchased. Sunset also offers a transportation and relocation service to help bring the late loved one home with a single phone call. Also, any planning done at Sunset, or any other Dignity location is completely transferable and will be honored at any of the 1,800 Dignity locations across the U.S.
Whether a cremation or traditional burial is preferred, Sunset offers four plans for each, which also include a “Compassion Helpline,” which offers counseling over the phone; an “Aftercare Planner,” a comprehensive estate management guide; access to legal services and the child/grandchild protection plan.
Regardless of what type of service a loved one wants, Sunset is there to help.
“No one person is alike, so no service should be alike,” says O’Connor. “We only have one shot to do this service, so we tell the family, ‘let’s put our thinking caps on. We are going to take our time with the family or friends and come up with a plan to properly celebrate the loved one’s life. The end result is truly a celebration.”
For more information about Sunset Funeral Home & Memory Gardens, please visit Sunset-FH.com or call 986-2402. Sunset is located at 11005 N. U.S. Hwy. 301, in nearby Thonotosassa.
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