Why do people beg for money after a tragic death?

[Frank]

I always see messages on facebook and stories on the news about families whose kids died and that there is a fund to donate money. What do these people need money for? It can't be for the funeral. Insurance covers the funeral. Plus, if you cant afford a funeral the state cremates for free and you can have your own little service for free. We did this for my mother. I know it is a tragic thing to lose a kid and I would be a miserable wreck if something were to happen to my daughter but do these people really need to beg for money?

[YoMoMMa]

For the funeral. Maybe they don't have insurance and don't want to cremate. Or maybe they depended on that person for money.

[SuperCee]

Sir, not everyone is insured! Not all states cremate for free. How dare you assume a person's financial ability. Get off your soapbox.

[JG]

Not everyone has insurance nor wants their child cremated...in some faiths, cremation is against the religious beliefs..

Fund raising not only covers funeral expenses but also helps the families to pay for the exorbitant medical costs involved in the illness or accident leading up to the death. Families have been known to end up bankrupt, cars and homes repossessed, and living on the streets because they cannot pay these bills. And all the while, they are being sued for payment by by the providers of these health care costs.

To have all of this on top of losing a loved one is a tragedy beyond measure. To help ease the burden and pain, friends, relatives, and even local schools or businesses will often set up such fundraisers to help pay the medical bills, which can easily reach 50,000 to 500,000 dollars. Even with health care insurance, the non covered portion that the family is responsible to pay is often phenomenal.

[Gary]

Contrary to what you mention here, most families do not have burial insurance for themselves or their children. They try to afford to carry health insurance for their families, put food on the table, a roof over their head, utilities, clothing on their bodies, and school supplies and school. Not everyone is "middle class." Next, a funeral isn't just a simple process. Not every religion allows cremation, and to tell the parents of a child you must violate your beliefs and your faith at a time when you need them the most is heartless. Even an Urn is expensive. Not every State pays for a Cremation either...not when there are family members to claim the body. There are always medical expenses too. Even if the child or adult was "found dead" there are autopsies, tests, etc. Nothing is free about death.

Many people find one of the only ways they can cope is to move to another environment. It is their only way to keep their sanity in their grief. That takes money. Few marriages survive the death of a child. It takes money to salvage what you can, or to try and move forward when you can't. Divorce is one of the main reasons, behind health-care costs, for bankruptcy.

Granted some of the requests for money online are fraud, just like the beggars on the street with the signs. But some of them are genuine. What if you were homeless, and your daughter was killed or got ill and died. Where would you get the money to pay the medical bills and bury her? What if you just couldn't cremate her? Where would you get the money for the embalming, the casket, the vault, the burial plot, the service location, and the fees for all the State paperwork? You'd have your hand out too. Count your blessings. Remember to help others when you can. There but for the Grace Of God, Go You.

[redheaded]

I don't think too many people have insurance on their children, and who would want their child cremated after losing them?