My mother-in-law died unexpectedly two days ago. To help my husband and his brother, I am weeding through the stacks and stacks paper! Over the past 28 years a certified financial planning firm, our team has spent hours doing exactly this for our clients.
The older the person, the more reticent she is about throwing away any paper. Just last weekend my mother in law said "I hate to confront the stacks of mail on the dining room table! I know I should...but it will be such a chore!" I offered to help, to which she said "no one else will know what to keep and what to throw away."
The junk mail is designed to look important. It dupes many into making contributions they don't need to make. I have one client who spends hours responding to all the (junk) mail he receives with letters and contributions.
So, a thought occurs to me? Why not establish a ministry to help folks deal with the tyranny paper! How wonderful it would be for families to deal with a loved one's death without having the drudgery of sorting through 20 years of light bills or magazine subscriptions or bank privacy notices.
As I think of the unique gifts I can bring to my call, this service emerges as a possibility. Putting it into practice will take some thought for training, liability, vetting of volunteers etc. Yippee, another project to design and implement.
No comments:
Post a Comment