NFDA Challenges Americans to Spend an Hour in Family Conversation During the Month of October

BROOKFIELD, Wis., Sept. 25, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) is encouraging families nationwide to spend an hour in conversation with family members to learn more about the lives of their loved ones in honor of National Family History Month this October.

In 2001, Congress passed a resolution recognizing October as National Family History Month, intended to bring families closer together by learning more about their ancestors. This October, NFDA is leading the charge in commemorating National Family History Month and encouraging Americans to discover the unique stories of their own families. By engaging in memorable conversations now, families will better be able to commemorate and memorialize the lives of loved ones when the time comes. 

To spark family conversations, NFDA, with support from the Funeral Service Foundation, developed the Have the Talk of a Lifetime Conversation Cards deck. Each of the 50 cards contains a single question such as "What personal event(s) have most shaped your life?" that initiates a meaningful conversation. During National Family History Month, families are encouraged to come together, draw a card from the deck, and let family stories unfold.

"Being proactive about having meaningful conversations brings families closer together," said Allison Gilbert, influential grief and resilience author and NFDA partner. "Oftentimes we want to share stories but find it difficult to get started. These cards offer a fantastic on-ramp. They make sharing stories easier and a whole lot of fun."

Families can come together anytime and anywhere – seated around a dining room table, in the car on a family road trip or gathered around a bonfire – and let the deck of cards guide family conversation. For more information about the program, and to request a free deck of Have the Talk of a Lifetime conversation cards, visit 50cards50questions.org.

After talking with their loved ones, families can document how their conversation brought family history to life and encourage other families to participate by posting an image of their family – an old family photo or a picture of their family gathered in conversation – on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #FamilyFlashback.

In addition to inviting families to order a free deck of conversation cards online, dozens of funeral homes throughout the country, in partnership with NFDA and the Funeral Service Foundation, will host National Family History Month events. A complete list of these events, which are specially designed to help people to discover their family's unique history, can be found at www.funeralservicefoundation.org/family. 

About the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA):
NFDA is the world's leading and largest funeral service association, serving 19,700 individual members who represent more than 10,000 funeral homes in the United States and 49 countries around the world. NFDA is the trusted leader, beacon for ethics and the strongest advocate for the profession. NFDA is the association of choice because it offers funeral professionals comprehensive educational resources, tools to manage successful businesses, guidance to become pillars in their communities and the expertise to foster future generations of funeral professionals. NFDA is headquartered in Brookfield, Wis., and has an office in Washington, D.C. For more information, please contact 800-228-6332 or visit www.nfda.org.

SOURCE National Funeral Directors Association

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http://www.nfda.org