By A new cross-border collaboration between text message-based grief support service, and online memorial provider aims to help people share memories and provide support after a death, digitally.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 25th, 2020 – Seattle, Washington – Coping with loss during COVID-19 requires new kinds of grief support and memorialization services, delivered safely from a distance. Seattle-based Grief Coach, a text message grief support service, and Keeper, an online memorial solution based in Ontario, Canada, are proud to announce a partnership to bring their digital solutions to people struggling with loss during the pandemic.
Keeper has provided online memorial tools to families and funeral service providers since 2013, and has experienced a spike in users creating sites to memorialize their loved ones and plan virtual funerals since the pandemic began. Mandy Benoualid, co-founder and president of Keeper explains that, “COVID-19 has led more people to look online for meaningful memorial solutions, and we are happy to provide a simple, secure way for family members across the globe to share memories, plan memorial services and receive community support.”
Grief Coach, a start-up delivering grief support via text message, added COVID-19 as a new cause of death in their system in March. After being featured by NBC News in April, individuals and organizations including hospices, nursing homes and police departments sought out Grief Coach in order to support their grieving communities. “I never imagined needing to add a new cause of death to our system,” says Emma Payne, founder of Grief Coach. “We support people after deaths including suicides, cancer and stillbirths, but it was a new experience having to learn about the specific bereavement needs of people who have lost someone to COVID-19. We worked with Virginia Mason Grief Services to craft customized texts that span common COVID grief responses including being frustrated with testing and treatments, feeling angry with people not following guidelines and wearing masks, and of course sadness because they couldn’t be with their loved ones at the end.”
With the need for remote grief support and online memorialization sky rocketing, Benoualid and Payne recognized that a collaboration would support more people. Grief Support and Keeper have launched a partnership to expand their capacity to fill the gaps created by the global pandemic. With funerals, support groups and even hugs no longer available, the two founders are proud to be scaling their ability to deliver support that is urgently needed. With Grief Coach and Keeper, people can share memories, remember their dearly missed loved ones, and support each other in their grief, safely and from a distance.
Grief Coach invites Keeper users to receive a discounted rate for their services by using the code: MYKEEPER
Keeper invites Grief Coach users to receive a discounted rate for Keeper Plus membership by using the code: GRIEFCOACH
About Keeper
Keeper is a social memorial website dedicated to remembering the lives of the departed. Individuals can create a collaborative memorial, where friends and family can leave tributes, upload photos, like, share, comment, connect, and remember those who are dearly missed. Keeper also proudly partners with cemeteries and funeral homes to offer a suite of digital memorialization tools. To learn more visit Keeper.
About Grief Coach
Grief Coach sends personalized text messages to help people after someone dies. Grieving people receive resources and tips, all year long, to help them feel less alone. If they have friends and family who want to help, but aren’t sure how, Grief Coach texts them suggestions too. Grief Coach also works with nonprofits, hospices, tissue banks, employers, and others who provide bereavement support. To learn more, visit Grief Coach.
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