CORNWALL, Ontario – Local funeral home Lahaie & Sullivan are always impressed by the generosity and support of the community in Cornwall and SD&G and they have decided on a new way they can pay it forward.
The idea sprung from Lahaie & Sullivan’s recent effort to deliver more personalization to their services.
Lahaie & Sullivan consult with families to try and add a personal touch and show the departed’s personality at funeral services.
This can be as simple as adding Christmas decorations to their hall in honour of someone who loved Christmas, to more complex endeavours such as restoring a beloved tractor and wagon to serve as the carriage for the ride to the internment site.
Some of these personalization efforts are undertaken by Lahaie & Sullivan, some are done by the family, but some require outside help.
In the case of one young gentleman, his company Cornwall Gravel provided the dump truck he always drove to be on-site for a part of the service at Lahaie & Sullivan.
"These things take time and money but they make all the difference for a greiving family," said Lahaie and Sullivan’s Lori Hollingsworth.
"It takes a community to support a family that’s greiving," added Laurie Sullivan-Kennedy, Lahaie & Sullivan’s Family Services Counsellor.
To give back to the community and recognize the genorisity of the people in it, Lahaie & Sullivan has started their Pay it Forward program. For the past month, they’ve been asking residents to nominate people that they know who are deserving of recognition.
These unsung heroes could be the people who drive cancer patients to their appointments, help senior citizens at the store, go the extra mile for the kids in their neighbourhood or many others.
Each month Lahaie and Sullivan will pick one of these deserving nominees to receive a gift and recognition in the Seaway News.
Nominations can be sent to info@lahaiesullivan.com or can be dropped off at their offices at 614 First Street East or 20 Seventh Street West.
