‘Life raft’ for grieving families coping with death
A family tragedy has inspired a Dannevirke woman to build a ‘‘life raft’’ for people struggling to cope with the loss of a loved one.
Death is difficult, and mountains of flowers don’t help, says Rachael Farrell, who is developing an online hub of practical support.
It will provide guidance for families in the first days after a death, and a wedding registry-style service to co-ordinate friends’ efforts to offer support.
The idea has earned Farrell a place as a finalist in Innovate 2017, an entrepreneurs’ contest run in Manawatu¯ .
When her brother-in-law died unexpectedly of a heart attack late last year, it hit Farrell and her family hard, and in some unexpected ways.
‘‘When someone passes away the dynamics and logistics of the family change, and that can be hard to adjust to while you’re still grieving.’’
In the midst of their loss, Farrell’s family was overwhelmed with dealing with all the day-today tasks he used to do, as well as planning his funeral.
Their friends wanted to help and show that they cared. But nobody knew how, so the family got flooded with flowers.
‘‘[Mourners] don’t need flowers, they need cold cuts and chillers.’’
Farrell said grieving families needed help with groceries, picking up the kids, paying the bills, help with finding where to go and what to do to organise the funeral, and emotional or mental health support.
She didn’t want other families to struggle and feel isolated like hers had, and she didn’t want their friends to feel helpless. That was the core focus of her idea, she said.
‘‘Death is difficult – we’re not going to make that go away, but we can certainly help.’’
Farrell said she was lucky enough to have two Innovate mentors to help refine her dream – Ian Harvey, founder of professional development network Creative Quotient; and business consultant Lyn Mccurdy.
They will guide Farrell through a 10-week crash course on business development, and help her prepare her pitch for the Innovate final in November.
Mccurdy said she and Harvey had volunteered to mentor Farrell because they really believed in her and her idea.
The competition’s selection panel was so impressed by Farrell’s vision they extended the number of finalists from five to six to include her.
Mccurdy said businesses based around death could be difficult to discuss.
But Farrell’s concept was a compassionate business idea being overlooked because it was uncomfortable to think of making money off grieving families.
So she went into bat for Farrell and convinced the panel to extend the number of finalists to include her.
‘‘The idea had all the important factors – it’s doable as a business, scalable and meets a need no-one else is addressing.’’