A Story Before We Begin

Welcome to the Gathering Hall

You are about to step into a conversation that matters deeply to the future of your work, your community, and the families who depend on you. Think of this first module as entering the Gathering Hall of a great hearth -- a place where we take stock of the landscape before drawing closer to the fire.

Before we look at data, before we discuss strategy, we want to begin the way every good conversation should begin: with a story.

Margaret's Story

Margaret had used the same funeral home in her town for three generations. Her grandmother's service was held there. Her father's. The director at the time had known Margaret since she was a girl, and when she walked through the door in the hardest moments of her life, she was greeted by someone who remembered her family -- not just their file.

When her husband passed, Margaret called the number she had known for 40 years. But the voice on the other end was unfamiliar. The office had been acquired six months prior by a national chain. No one had told her. No one had reached out.

The process felt efficient -- almost clinical. Everything was handled. The paperwork moved quickly. The logistics were seamless. But something essential was missing.

There was no one who remembered her father's service. No one who knew that her husband had always loved a particular hymn, or that Margaret preferred to sit in the small chapel rather than the main room because it felt more like family. The warmth of the hearth she had known for decades had gone cold.