Spring 2013

ANNUAL MEETING

DATE: Saturday, May 4th
TIME: 1 to 3 pm
PLACE: The Library! at Cole and Ustick

PRESENTATION: "How to Protect and Deter Identity Theft at End-of-life"

Dale Dixon, President/CEO, BBB Serving the Snake River Region

Sent from your President's mountaintop laptop...

Sherri Rudai

Many changes have befallen the Board since the last annual meeting. Death took our former president and current treasurer Loyal Perry this past January. October, the current President Pat Cooper left the Board and Secretary Peter Wollheim stepped down in August. We have been facing challenges. To our good fortune, Monica Perry has graciously been filling in for Loyal, as well as acting as interim secretary, all the while mentoring Susan Randall and myself. We are indebted to Monica for her willingness to carry Loyal's load. We are seeking new board members. If you have ever been interested in becoming a board member now is a great time. we are in need of three members immediately.

Board Member Status and Nominees

Current Board Members are:

Special "thanks" to Tom von Alten for his work on our website.

We need you! We are recruiting for 3 Board positions:

Biannual Contract Review

Contract renegotiations with Accent Funeral Home in Meridian brought an agreement for FCAI. Member price for minimal services is: $730 for Direct Cremation and $755 for Immediate Burial if providing your own casket, $955 in a basic casket is provided by Accent. Remember Immediate Burial does not include cemetery fees. Be sure to share this information with friends and family members. FCAI routinely receives phone calls from family members under the false impression that membership to our organization is a "pre-paid" funeral plan.

With the changes to our contract with Accent it is a good time to review your information, completing and submitting new forms. (See the publications page for links to download blank forms.)

Proposed changes to bylaws

We have had family members complete the application form and pay the enrollment fee for family members who because of their terminal illness are unable to. When this happens it goes against the FCAI bylaws. Therefore we are proposing the following change to our bylaws, to delete the section struck out below:

"Any person over the age of 18, without regard to race, creed, or national origin, who is in sympathy with the purpose of the affiliate, who is applying without an intermediary, personal agent or attorney in fact and who pays the prescribed enrollment fee shall become eligible for full membership benefits upon receipt by the cooperating mortuary of the completed personal directive. Gift memberships allowed."

The members will have an opportunity to vote on this proposed change at the Annual Meeting.

Strategic Plan

In review, The Board of Directors for FCAI, under Pat Cooper's capable leadership completed the task of creating a Strategic Plan for our organization. The goal of the plan was to provide direction for the organization over the next three to five years. We revisited our mission and visions statements which have been and continue to be, the foundation of our activities. Pat put much effort in developing a strategy for growth, expansion, marketing, information technology/website, finance, information and documentation.

Through Pat's effort, the board realized its limited ability to commit to intensive growth, and was not interested in expansion that could not be properly managed with volunteer services. Our organization is strong and we are delivering quality education and services to our members. For now, our plan is to educate. We are reviewing and preparing training and development materials for new Board members.

Membership stats pie chart

Membership by the Numbers

In 1972 the organization began (as the "Idaho Memorial Association") with 25 members; 15 of those original members are still with us. Over the decades FCAI has processed over 987 memberships, with a current membership count of 594. 2012 brought us 39 new members, with 14 passing, a net gain of 25 (compared to 2011 with 30 deaths and equally 30 new members, no net gain).

Our hope is, with the proposed change to our bylaws allowing gift memberships, and more public outreach, our ranks will continue to swell.

Community Outreach

During 2012–2013, the Board presented "Ten Tips for Saving Funeral Dollars" to:

Your Funeral Consumer Rights in Idaho

The Funeral Ethics Organization has published a new pamphlet that summarizes your rights in making funeral arrangements, choices for disposition of remains, veteran and social security benefits, and the pro and cons of prepaying for a funeral. Your Funeral Consumer Rights in Idaho is available as a downloadable PDF, at no charge. Visit our publications page for many other useful documents.

THANK YOU!

We want to extend our thanks and appreciation to those individuals and groups who made a donation to FCAI since the last annual meeting:

The Funeral Consumers Alliance of Idaho is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit corporation, an affiliate of the national Funeral Consumers Alliance. Donations to the FCAI are not tax-deductible.