Cedar Rapids Area Cremation and celebration of life options
Other useful pages
Page I setup for where to Donate Things but also could be a good place to get things Free or cheap :)
Page I added for Student Discount
Page for Low Income Resources
I set this page up as a general guide and resource
You can also call 211 on your phone and they can give you more info on this too.
Budget guidelines
Cremation
Is the lowest cost best option for most people with limited money and just what most people will do in the future.
If you don't have any money see what your County can do for you Iowa City Johnson County has a budget of $3k or so per person that they will pay for Cedar Rapids Linn county has around 1k budget link It also good to get a Will setup you can get a free one here
Standard market rate best option I have used is
Iowa Cremation for $2379.00 (USD) limited direct cremation I am sure it has gone up since that time as that was a number of years ago. I used theses guys when my mom passed away and they did a good job had no problems.
Website https://www.iowacremation.com/ Phone 1-888-871-3361
Facility Rental
Fee $550 a day I was able to get it for much less but it was a group that I was a member of for years. I think indoor place with A/C is ideal depending on the person but a park celebration and location could be a very low cost way too do it too.
500 full colored printed 8X10 handouts $330 Copy Works
Website https://www.copyworks.com/ Phone (319) 373-5335
Flower
Pierson's Flower Shop $220 for a nice display of roses that is with delivery charge
Webpage https://epiersons.com/ phone (319) 395-0995
Newspaper Gazette
Printing cost $400 for obit in Sunday paper had them do a quick run the 1st weekend and then a full run with Full Color pic the 2nd weekend DO NOT call the Gazette have Iowa Cremation handle it and just pay them later. Gazette Cost is $25 for online placement plus 50 cents per word and photo charges This is a good avenue for people to find out a lot of older people read the Sunday Newspaper still. you can sign up for Free to get Gazette Obituaries Newsletter
Delivered to your inbox every day. https://www.thegazette.com/
Headstone
Eastern Iowa Monument a nice upright headstone with India granite cost around 4K or so
Website https://easterniowamonument.com/ Phone 319-373-0417
Food catering Hy-Vee $1,200
Sam's Club
Paper plates & towels, pop, water, chips cookies, etc. $300
Burial Plots
My parents and I bought burial plots in spring 2021 in a small township cemetery near where I grew up. The total cost for the 2 plots for $1,000. The cemetery was around before the civil war in the 1840s was when they 1st started using it.
Obituary & Newspaper
Template
Person, age, of town, Iowa passed away on month day, 20XX. A Celebration
of Life will be held at venue (full address with town) on
Wednesday May 17 from 3:00 – 7:00 PM.
person was born in town to parents on month day, 19XX,
and spent their childhood living in town, Iowa. they completed their elementary grades at
School in town and graduated from High School in 1971. She
went on to attend the University of Northern Iowa and earned her bachelor’s degree and
master’s degree in education
On April 5,1981 she married husband, and for
most of the XX years, they lived in town. She worked at XX place and then at XX place.
She liked to do XX in her free time as well as volunteer for XX cause
She is survived by her husband person; son person of town; brother person
(person) last name of town; two sisters, and many more
Utilities & subscription services to cancel
Phone internet water gas electric trash service etc
Netflix Amazon Prime and other subscription services watch the credit cards and let them shut down.
Telecommunications & social media
Internet discount
Telephone
Make sure you keep there phone number active for a number of months after they pass away in case people try to reach you after a number of months it may be best to make there old number a Google Voice number and then have them use a Red Pocket phone or something like that on the back end or just run it as 2nd line for yourself.
Email addresses
check them login
online accounts
digital afterlife
Donations and where things you don't want should go?
asking for donations either to help the family or to a nonprofit
donating things that will no longer be needed or wanted around the house etc...
Here is a link to https://crmoms.com/in-and-around-cedar-rapids/spring-cleaning-donate-stuff-cedar-rapids/
I also setup a page on my site about this Donate page
Elder help
Aging Services
UnityPoint Health - AbbeHealth Services - Aging Services enhances the lives of older adults by providing services and resources to assist them in remaining independent Phone (319) 398-3647 Website
Heritage Area Agency On Aging
Heritage Area Agency on Aging is a non-profit organization providing innovative services and access to local resources that improve the quality of life for older adults, adults with disabilities and family caregivers. Phone: (319) 398-5559 https://www.heritageaaa.org/
Tax Help
The volunteer income tax assistance (VITA) Trained and certified volunteers provide free tax preparation for individuals
and families you may also be eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) so not only is this free but it could get you money back and help with Medicaid or ACA discount. Here is the local website https://www.uweci.org/what-we-do/our-programs/vita/
Additional links
Linn County has https://www.linncounty.org/130/Community-Resources this page with a lot of local information
https://howtogeton.wordpress.com/2020/03/02/how-to-be-poor-in-america/
https://www.traviswalkerlaw.com/25-steps-for-estate-planning/