Honouring memories
Jono Gibson of Cambridge Funerals believes funerals are for the living, and the industry is becoming more innovative every day.
Jono Gibson of Cambridge Funerals believes funerals are for the living, and the industry is becoming more innovative every day.
Sharing a person’s life story and keeping their memory alive is what funeral director, Jono Gibson, likes best about his job. “It’s an honour to tell someone’s story. You don’t get a second chance, so it’s important it’s done right.”
Jono’s interest in the funeral industry was first piqued in his early 20s, when he lost a good friend to a car accident. “The funeral process was new to me. It was very sad, but also fascinating. I spent time wondering about the journey my friend had taken from being in the car, to lying in a casket in front of me. I filed that in the back of my mind as something I’d like to investigate one day.”
After spending the first decade of his career in the radio business and sales, Jono eventually took some annual leave and spent a week doing work experience at a funeral home.
“When I joined the funeral industry in 2013, TV shows like Six Feet Under had glorifed it. A lot of people were entering the industry, but it’s a job you really need to be passionate about. You soon learn if you’re cut out for it. Thankfully, I was.”
Today, Jono is the funeral director at Cambridge Funerals in Cambridge, Waikato. Owned by Tauranga’s Legacy Trust, the Cambridge branch has recently been modernised, refurbished and will soon be renamed in keeping with the Legacy brand. Legacy Funerals has plans to expand further into the Waikato this year too, with a new office in Hamilton.
Jono offers the Cambridge community the same compassionate care that Legacy Funerals is known for. And like its sister company in Tauranga, profits from the business are gifted back to the local Cambridge community.
For Jono it’s the people, the families of those who have passed on, that make the job rewarding. “I believe the funeral service is for the living; the people who are left behind. Making funeral services really special and memorable for them is my aim.”
Thankfully, Jono says, the industry is becoming more innovative, so a service and the venue can feel more personalised. Alongside the newly renovated Cambridge funeral home, the world is your oyster when it comes to places to hold a funeral with Legacy Funerals.
“Instead of a traditional church service, people now are choosing to farewell their loved ones in different ways. I’ve organised several funerals on the beach, services held at wedding venues, a hearse driving a lap of a horse racetrack, and arranged for an opera singer to sing hymns at one funeral so attendees didn’t feel pressured to. Making the whole process unique and relevant to the person concerned and their family is what matters most.”
Lasting legacies
Kiri Randall from Legacy Funerals explains the importance of giving back.
Kiri Randall from Legacy Funerals explains the importance of giving back.
Photos Salina Galvan
Kiri Randall from Legacy Funerals
Gifting back profits to the community is by no means a new concept, but it’s not a common one in today’s business world. Which is surprising considering how much a business gets back if they choose to go down this road. For us, it’s built into the way we run.
Legacy Funerals here in Tauranga and its sister funeral home in Cambridge are both owned by Legacy Trust, and as far as I’m aware, the only funeral homes in the country to operate as not-for-profit businesses. This means it isn’t owned by any individual or private organisation.
The charitable trust was established in 2007 after the founder, former funeral director Greg Brownless, travelled to Thailand to assist with the repatriation of the deceased lost during the Boxing Day tsunami in 2006. Greg owned a funeral business in Tauranga, Greg Brownless Funeral Homes, but after that life-changing experience, he returned and set up Legacy Trust, vowing to make a difference in his own small part of the world.
So how does Tauranga’s local community benefit? Families who choose Legacy Funerals to farewell a loved one pay a normal fee and, after our usual operating costs are taken care of, the profits are returned to the local community. The Trust has gifted over $3.6 million since its inception directly back to local Tauranga-based charities, secondary schools and clubs. Not only do our families appreciate that in choosing Legacy’s service, their actions make a real and tangible difference to our local community, but our staff really value being part of a socially minded business too. Day to day we provide a caring and compassionate service to our families and it’s nice knowing that this extends far beyond our funeral homes through gifting our profits.
People can apply directly to the Trust for funding and our directors and trustees meet every month where we review applications from schools, community groups and charitable organisations and allocate our profits accordingly. We do also have some organisations that we regularly donate to. Waipuna Hospice is one local organisation that we are a principal supporter of. Close to $300,000 has been donated to assist the Hospice, helping to provide specialist palliative care for patients living with a life-limiting illness.
Greg’s Thailand experience completely changed the way the business worked and is therefore changing lives. In turn, this way of working gives us a greater sense of purpose in our everyday working lives. Every business should consider finding a way to give back.