unexpected expenses

Driving home today, we came across a group of people hoisting hand-painted signs advertising a carwash, bakesale, and Mexican food for sale.  I thought it was a strange combination of goods and services, and an unlikely location (in a residential neighborhood).  Then one of the women said, "Help me bury my baby."  One of the banners said the event was a funeral fundraiser.

Those life insurance commercials say the average funeral costs over $6000, and I started to wonder.  So I ran some numbers.  According to this local service, basic preparation of the body, a rental casket, a short service, and an urn will run $3195.  I included embalming in the figures because sometimes it's required, even if the family doesn't want it.  There'd be additional cost for a person to conduct a service, or to buy a casket and deliver it to an interment site -- which also carries a cost -- and to have flowers or other displays at the service.  Going even more basic ("minimal preparation" of the remains and cremation in a cardboard container) brings the cost under $500, and the venue even offers the use of its chapel for 1/2 hour.

Generally speaking, a person doesn't plan to hold a funeral for his or her children, so it's an unexpected expense.  And, also generally speaking, children don't have life insurance policies to cover their "final expenses."  In my neighborhood, I seriously doubt most people have $3195 sitting around to spend on a funeral.  But for those who are deeply religious or who just feel strongly about having a memorial service to remember a life lived, a bare minimum processing of remains simply adds insult to unimaginable injury.

Amazingly, this woman appeared to have a lot of moral support, as there were a dozen or so people at the roadside advertising the fundraising event, and more managing the sales and services.  People can be such good and altruistic creatures sometimes.