"Mark, I put up one of the Cremation-With-Care posts this morning on our Facebook page and believe it or not it looks like it is going to get us a Mausoleum Sale :) Gotta love that."
- Rich Darby
Sunset Funeral Homes & Memorial Park
Danville, IL
"Mark, we have increased our cremation income these past few weeks by serving more cremation families due in part to the visibility of the Cremation-With-Care graphic on our website and the other CWC materials. We've been having a very positive experience with all the Facebook posts, especially the one today. Our advanced planning has risen every week since we started the program..."
- John Flynn
Cassidy-Flynn Funeral Home
Mt. Kisco, NY
"Mark, I wanted to update you as we renew our annual membership with ValMark for 2015/2016. As of mid-August 2015 we are up 60 CASES YTD over last year! I attribute our growth and market penetration to the tremendous successes we have had working the VFMC Community Engagement Programs since 2008. Working the programs is really working for us. Renewing for another year is a no-brainer!"
- Bill Hindman
Hindman Funeral Homes
Johnstown, PA
"Mark, we've been an exclusive funeral home provider with ValMark for over 7 years and have participated in many of the worthwhile community engagement programs that you have developed and provided us with; Sweaters for Veterans, Stockings for Soldiers and Operation Valentine to name a few. Our community has responded with great enthusiasm and the programs get bigger and attract more attention year over year..."
- Jerry Sowers
Melcher-Sowers Funeral Home
Piqua, OH
"Mark, we have increased our cremation income these past few weeks by serving more cremation families due in part to the visibility of the Cremation-With-Care graphic on our website and the other CWC materials. We've been having a very, very positive experience with all the Facebook posts & especially the one today..."
- John Flynn
Cassidy-Flynn Funeral Home
Mt. Kisco, NY
"Mark, we could not be more pleased with your marketing efforts. The Facebook posts are so well written."
- James Blossom
McCoy-Blossom Funeral Home
McCoy, Missouri
"Mark, I am very excited to be on your team! I wish that I had become a funeral home provider for ValMark sooner!"
- LeRoy Wooster
LeRoy P. Wooster Funeral Home
Atco, New Jersey
"I am very satisfied with the FB content you put out and the brand awareness that ValMark Group has helped me with — I was up 50 calls this year! Thanks!"
- Dan Madden
Stark Memorial FH & Cremation Services
Salem, Ohio
"Success! Our community rocks! From Barbie to Tonka Trucks, every day this week we have had non-stop toy deliveries. Thank you to the wonderful Hunterdon community for your support of “Easter Toys for Girls & Boys” benefiting the kids at St. Jude Children’s Hospital!"
- DJ Wright
Wright & Ford Funeral Home
Flemington, NJ
"Happy Valentine's Day! Thank you to our Washington Township and Glassboro Elementary schools for making over 500 Valentine's cards for our Operation Valentine initiative! These cards were distributed to our Veterans living in nursing homes and those without any family members."
- Charlie Chiango
Egizi Funeral Home
Turnersville, NJ
"We want to thank everyone who participated in our St. Jude Children’s Hospital Easter Toys for Girls & Boys! Two large boxes full of toys were shipped to St. Jude’s today! We truly live in a great community and thank everyone who participated!"
- Mark A. Clarke
Henry Funeral Home
Staunton, VA
"Thanks to those of you who helped make Operation Valentine such a huge success! We collected over 1,700 Valentine cards to distribute to our Veterans and Soldiers. These cards have made our heroes very happy! Thanks again everyone!"
- Benjamin Rhone
Rhone Funeral Home
Palestine, TX
"Mark, thank you for all that you are doing for my funeral homes."
- Lauren and Claire McDonald
McDonald & Son Funeral Home
Cumming, GA
"Here's a few articles and photos from Operation Valentine. This was a great success for us here in Covington — the newspaper did three stories about it, including one on the front page."
- Tommy Davis
J.C. Harwell & Son
Covington, GA
"Hey Mark, I sent out the Stockings for Soldiers press release — after the story aired our phones are ringing off the hook for stockings! Here's the story that aired on FOX NEWS!"
- Greg Fischer
Max A. Sass Funeral Homes
Milwaukee, WI
"Mark, we did a very short video of the senior group that made our cards and then showed some of the cards. We posted it on our Facebook page and in less than 24 hours, it has had 12,876 views and 2.2k likes — pretty good considering only 21 shares from our site."
- Dewayne Hughes
Hughes Crown Hill Funeral Home
Dallas, TX
"Mark, we had kids from our local elementary schools do Operation Valentine 2016. We sent the cards to veterans homes in our county. This was a fantastic success!"
- Charles Chiango
Egizi Funeral Home
Turnersville, NJ
"The cremation shopper phone script you provided is awesome! We are printing it off and laminating to keep at all locations! Since we are already branding with your programs it would just make sense to pursue further preneed marketing with ValMark."
- Bryan Crain
Crain Funeral Home & Cremation Service
Cape Girardeau, MO
"I wanted to let you know we just mailed over 200 stockings to the troops. This is our third year participating in VFMC's Stockings for Soldiers and by far the largest. Our community really jumped on board this year with great coverage from our local newspaper and TV station. Thank you for helping us give something back to those who protect our freedom each and every day."
- Dan Calfee
Calfee Funeral Home
Beckley, WV
"I just wanted to let everyone know how successful our VFMC Stockings for Soldiers project has been going for our communities. This is our first year participating with this particular project but it has simply taken off! We have had probably 200+ stockings go flying out our doors and we are anxiously awaiting to see them all come back so we can send them on to the troops..."
- Timothy R. Livingston
Owens Livingston Mortuary
Show Low, AZ
"I just wanted to send this 'Front Page - Full Color' article that was in our local paper for the Wreaths Across America Ceremony we sponsored on Dec. 10th. As veterans ourselves, it is an honor for my husband Jarrod and myself to be able to honor our fellow brothers and sisters with programs like Wreaths Across America, Sweaters for Vets, and the many others promoted through the Veteran's and Family Memorial Care program. Thank you for allowing us to be a part of your program. We have definitely become known to our local vets and their spouses because of them."
- Jenelle and Jarrod Mankie
Northern Peace Funeral Home
Walker, MN
"Wanted to share a picture with you. Last year we set a very ambitious goal for the 2011 VFMC Stockings for Soldiers — to ship 1000 filled stockings to our troops. With fantastic community support, we handed out 1000 and have received back hundreds so far along with boxes of extra products to fill more. Cecil County, MD should be proud!"
- Rob Crouch
Crouch Funeral Home
North East, MD
"The VFMC Sweaters for Veterans collection went extremely well! We placed ads in community newspapers and local churches and collected a total of 420 sweaters! One local TV station even picked up the story. Here is a link to our Facebook page with pictures and updates that we posted."
- Greg Fischer
Max A. Sass & Sons FH
Milwaukee, WI
"Just wanted to pass on our success in the Sweaters for Veterans Drive. We ended up with too many to count — sweaters, gloves, hats, and coats to distribute. We donated to our local veterans home, and the remaining items were sent to three veteran groups in Galesburg. What a success! We also secured two prearrangements because of this drive."
- Mark A. Thomas
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Galesburg, IL
"Hi Mark, I wanted to let you know how your program worked for us. Having just joined your group 6 weeks ago, we ran the Sweaters for Veterans ad 4 times in our local paper and collected over 250 items, including 192 sweaters. We worked with the local American Legion Post to distribute them to local veterans and our VA hospital. I was very pleased with it being our first time working with the VFMC programs. Thanks for what you do."
- Tommy Hudson
Hudson Funeral Home
Durham, N.C.
"Just wanted to let you know the programs do work! We have had a lot of success with the programs we have done this year. Thanks for all of your support and we look forward to 2013! Wishing you and your family Happy Holidays!"
- Kimberly Ross
Abbey Funeral Home
Tallahassee, FL
"Things started to pick up steam for us last fall. We have had booths at several festivals to collect Cell Phones for Soldiers and have been working with local veterans groups. We even have American Legion Halls sending people to us, telling them we are 'Veteran Friendly.' Our number of cases has been increasing, and a large part can be attributed to Veterans & Family Memorial Care. Much more on the horizon, but we’re finally starting to get some traction. Thanks for your work."
- David Work
Lord Funeral Home
St. Louis, MO
"Mark, I have had so much press time with the last two events. The VFMC Patriot Walk on September 11, 2013 — I had both of our news stations broadcast live from the funeral home, and two local fire departments came in full gear with trucks to walk for the other firefighters. Our second year with Sweaters for Veterans has been amazing; we collected 150 sweaters, fifty more than last year. The news stations now call me regularly for interviews. When you work the programs, they do work for you... four times over!"
- Eric Fithyan
Chambers & James Funeral Home
Wellsburg, WV
"Mark, wanted to let you know that we are well into our 3rd year of the VFMC Stockings for Soldiers initiative and on track to go over last year’s total of 300. Cell phones collected to date are 1,336 with more coming in weekly. I recently met with a couple who came to us because of the VFMC ads and programs. The husband, a 20-year Navy veteran, told me he had received a free calling card overseas through Cell Phones for Soldiers — a great testament to how these programs continue to drive traffic and make a difference!"
- Craig Pickelman
Wilson-Miller Funeral Home
Midland, MI
"Stockings for Soldiers is going better than I would have ever imagined. So many churches and individuals from Chester County have embraced the concept, and the stockings keep coming in. People are just blown away and make comments like, 'I always wondered how I might thank our troops overseas.' The kids love doing this as much as anyone. An individual from the Chester County prison has even requested 200 stockings for next year’s effort. Good work to all who are participating — it’s been so rewarding as funeral service caregivers."
- Matt Grieco
Grieco Family Funeral Homes
Kennett Square, PA
"I had a preneed come in today that found me on the VFMC website, VeteransHonored.com! THANKS."
- Daniel Enea
Ocoee Funeral Home
Ocoee, FL
"Sweaters for Veterans made the front page of our local newspaper along with a color photo. This is only half of the sweaters we received — the first van load was already transported to the VA Hospital."
- Cindy
Lietz-Fraze Funeral Home
Lake Havasu City, AZ
"Good to chat with you this morning. Our VFMC 9-11 Patriot Walk was a huge success — two families were so impressed that we would expend the resources in today's market that they decided to use our funeral home when they had a death. That's two at-need families directly related to the Patriot Walk within just a couple of weeks. One of the families lives in another state but because of the media coverage they saw, they called us. Thanks for the time that you give to us so that we can be successful!"
- Bill Latimer
Brown & Latimer Funeral Home
Burlington, CO
"The VFMC Sweater for Veterans initiative has been a huge success for us. In addition to collecting upwards of 300 sweaters, a few of which were purchased new, gift wrapped, and mailed directly to us, we have written several preneeds — all with new veteran families — in the last week alone. There is no question that working the programs is working for us."
- Bill Hindman
Hindman Funeral Homes
Johnstown, PA
"I collected 300 Valentines from our local elementary school for VFMC's Operation Valentine. The director of our local VA asked if she could give them to the vets at the Erie, PA VA Hospital, as they go there weekly to provide services and visitation for veterans, and she thought it would cheer them up instead of sending them overseas."
- JP Ducro
Ducro Services
Ashtabula, OH
"Northrop-Sassaman Funeral Home donated 500 white helium-filled balloons with the American Flag on them for a Memorial Day Service. I just wanted you to know that the annual VFMC Memorial Day Balloon Release was a total success, and we are going to sponsor the same event next year. Due to the success, we will be increasing the number of balloons to 1,000. Thanks for all you do."
- John B. Sassaman
Northrop-Sassaman FH
Northville, MI
"Just wanted to follow up on the Sweaters for Veterans outreach program. After multiple steps to get to the right agency within the Durham, NC VA Hospital, we were warmly welcomed! We connected directly with the local VA Clinic in Greenville to donate over 150 sweaters, gloves, and fleece blankets — all going to the VA Community Clinic Homeless Program in Greenville and Pitt County. What a great experience! We’ve just joined ValMark Memorial Group and Veteran's & Family Memorial Care and are happy to report another success. We’re also participating in the Stockings for Soldiers program and look forward to sharing that success as well."
- Don Wilkerson, Jr.
S.G. Wilkerson & Sons, Inc.
Greenville, NC
"This program was a huge success! It was extremely fun for all who were involved. Thank you so much for the opportunity you provided to us. Seeing the children's faces was absolutely priceless when we came to pick up their Valentines — each and every one was made with love. Out of the three elementary schools that participated, about 1,500 students total, we collected 957 Valentines. AWESOME!"
- Sarah Hutton
D.S. Temrowski & Sons Funeral Home
Warren, Michigan
"Here is the email I told you about. This is our fourth year participating in Wreaths Across America. The family in the email below actually lives in Tennessee but saw online that we participate, and they’ve joined us for three of the four years. We also did the Sweaters for Veterans and collected almost 500 items that were taken to the Dayton VA Hospital for distribution. We sent 175 stockings to soldiers in Afghanistan this year — our fourth year in that program as well. We have been truly blessed by the ideas you have provided. It has been a pleasure to work with you."
- Loverna M. Dilbone
Melcher-Sowers Funeral Home
Piqua, OH
"685 sweaters, 127 pairs of gloves, 54 coats, 30 hats, and over 500 miscellaneous pieces of clothing. The Philadelphia Enquirer (400,000 subscribers) is doing a story at our funeral home tomorrow. Next year our goal is 2,000 sweaters... and we WILL get there. This was an AWESOME program!"
- Mark McCafferty
McCafferty FH
Philadelphia, PA
"Mark, we have 7 elementary schools participating in VFMC’s Operation Valentine. We’ve received local community newspaper coverage with photos and a story, as well as coverage from the local Fox News channel. In addition, Family Choice has teamed up with several local businesses, our cable provider Comcast, and a local television news outlet that has agreed to sponsor advertising. It’s been a wonderful collaboration!"
- Jeff Harbeson
Family Choice Funerals & Cremation
Roanoke & Virginia Beach, VA
"Mark, just to fill you in on our programs — I have a retired Marine veteran running our VFMC Veterans Programs, and it is working very well. Educating the veterans and their spouses has generated great preneed funded arrangements."
- John Jessen
Jessen Funeral Home
Whiteland, IN
"Just wanted to update you on the Operation Valentine initiative since this is our first opportunity to reach out to the public on behalf of VFMC. Our local TV station has been running public service announcements all week promoting Operation Valentine, and our local newspaper ran a story about it. We also reached out to several schools, and the public in general is responding to our plea for Valentine's Day cards. We are extremely proud to be a part of this organization!"
- Cheryl A. Smith
E. Merrill Smith Funeral Home, Inc.
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"I want to thank you for these great ideas. This 'free' information that was in our local paper is invaluable. We will be doing VFMC's Operation Valentine every year from now on due to the tremendous response — all because of a simple email out to about five schools! If we were paying for an ad like this, in color and this size, it would have cost around $575. Keep up the great work, and again, I am proud to be associated with your organization!"
- Samuel A. Glenn
Custer-Glenn FH
Wooster, OH
"Thank you for all your support. The programs do work! We just did our first Sweaters for Veterans and our community reached out with such great support that we collected 289 sweaters and coats. The local VFW Posts, VA clinic, and our Love Kitchen distributed the articles to homeless veterans in our White Mountain communities. This program helped us help others and reminded us what it truly means to be thankful to the soldiers serving, to our veterans at home, and to our community in which we live. We are truly blessed."
- Sandi Hale
Owens Livingston Mortuary
Show Low, AZ
"Hi Mark, wanted to let you know that we just finished our 2012 Stockings for Soldiers collection — what a huge success! This year we collected and shipped over 300 stockings, well above last year's 212. The positive response from the community was more than expected, bringing many new people through our doors. We also collected 100 sweaters for veterans and 114 cell phones for soldiers. This has been by far the best PR we've had in a long time."
- Craig C. Pickelman
Wilson Miller Funeral Home
Midland, Michigan
"Mark, this year the Sweaters for Veterans program yielded over 400 sweaters for the Veterans Home nearby. Our local newspaper printed an article and a picture featuring my funeral home. The program has gotten bigger each year! Another big thank you for all you do."
- Mike Roessner
Lawson-Roessner FH
Defiance, Ohio
"Three hundred twenty-three overseas soldiers will enjoy an extra gift for their holiday this year thanks to Peacock Funeral Chapel participating in VFMC's Christmas Stockings for Soldiers. Free Christmas stockings were available at Peacock Funeral Chapel for anyone who wanted to decorate and fill them with small gifts. Schools, youth groups, banks, businesses, and private citizens all contributed. Both local newspapers covered the story at the post office — great PR! Now we’re gearing up for Wreaths Across America this Saturday with the VFW, American Legion, local Boy Scouts, and others."
- Clay Peacock
Peacock Funeral Home
Lamar, Colorado
"Hi Mark, thought I would let you know what a tremendous success our 4th 'Sweaters for Veterans' collection was. We collected hundreds of items that will be donated to our area veterans in need of cold weather clothing. Thank you for all your support!"
- Steve Ford
Drennan & Ford Funeral Home and Crematory
Port Angeles, WA