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President's Letter:
Support Your State Association
By William L. Wright, CCE
Bill Wright, ICFA president for 2002-2003, is a cemeterian and licensed funeral director.
He is vice president of Fairlawn Burial Park and Heritage Funeral Home in Hutchinson, Kansas, which are owned and operated by his family. He can be reached at heritage@msinter.net.
I have had the good fortune, as have all ICFA presidents, to go before groups of people to share what is taking place within the association and the industry overall as it relates to state and federal government regulation and upcoming legislation, the subjects most members are interested in. It is always an honor to represent the ICFA as its spokesperson at such events.
In late September, I spoke at the biennial meeting of the Central States Cemetery Association, of which I am a member. The states that are members of this association are Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa, Arkansas and Illinois. It was the finest convention, in terms of program content, that I can remember.
I congratulate Program Chairman Greg Vogele, CCCE, of the Alliance of Illinois Cemeteries, Arrangements Chairperson Charlene Garner, Central States Vice President Michael Hutchinson, CCE, and, of course, my mother, Sharon McDonough, Central States president and secretary-treasurer, for their hard work.
Though attendance was up over the previous year, many folks decided, for whatever reason, not to attend. We missed them very much, which leads me to my main message. Lord knows, as your president I have had to make some tough choices as to which state and regional meetings I can attend, and I am sure your situation is no different than mine. But I hear people complaining all the time that the state associations are not as strong as they once were, so I have to ask, "What is going on here?" In my experience, the people who do all the complaining are the same folks who do not show up when given the opportunity. This is truly a shame for many reasons, some obvious and others not.
Let's start with the obvious. It goes without saying that most state and regional organizations receive a good portion of their funding through registration fees for meeting attendance. If those conventions and the associations that run them are to remain viable, they need the support of all their members. Most state and regional associations also receive tremendous support from our supplier friends. If the "buying units" aren't attending, the support from this very important group will cease, and who could blame them!
Looking at the situation from another perspective, I suspect that cemeterians and funeral directors who do not support their state or regional associations through active participation likewise do not support the ICFA, which brings me to the not-so-obvious danger of noninvolvement.
As a long-time member of the ICFA Government and Legal Affairs Committee, I can tell you that most of the serious problems that arise to cause us so much grief as an industry originate from companies that do not belong to the ICFA. Most likely, these same people are not active in their state or regional associations either. There is an inverse correlation between involvement in professional associations, with all that implies, and ignorance. The not-so-obvious connection becomes very clear when you look at the situation this way.
Ignorance, through a lack of industry awareness and education, is a real danger, my friends, and what is sad is that you and I allow it to happen. You read it right! The onus is on those of us who are involved to get others who are not to attend educational sessions that teach the right way of doing things. The more often cemetery and funeral home owners and managers are exposed to people of high character who know what they are doing, the more likely they will want to emulate those successful people. It stands to reason that the more proper education a person receives, the less likely he or she is to make big mistakes. Good things can happen if we can bring the nonmember or inactive member into the fold by constantly inviting them to participate.
Let me make a suggestion. The next time you go to a meeting and notice that some people you know are absent, when you get home, call them on the phone and tell them you missed seeing them. Offer to send them your notes, and encourage them to attend the next time. Remind them again during the year.
Operating a cemetery or funeral home successfully is hard work, and the pitfalls are many. When you as an owner or manager are active by attending educational events, all of us benefit. My hope is that through education at all levels there will be fewer problems like the ones that have recently befallen our industry.
Copyright ICFA 2002
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