It all began in August of 2015 when the founder of Prepared Love for Families, Carol D. Ward, lost her mother unexpectedly. It was one week before her mother’s death when she received the call that her mother had Stage 4 Cancer and there was nothing anyone could do. The doctors gave her mother a three-week expectancy but said she’d be gone in two weeks. It was exactly one week to the date of that fatal phone call when her mother transitioned.

Carol’s mother had pre-planned for this day many years in advance. Her mother and father had visited their local funeral home and made final arrangements, including selecting their caskets. This took place many years before their deaths. Carol’s father passed in April 2010 and because of those prior arrangements her mother didn’t have the extra burden of making burial decisions. Five years later, Carol and her siblings lost their mother. Again, due to the prior arrangements, her mother had made they were not burdened with last-minute burial decisions. It was such a weight lifted that Carol thought many others should know about this and have the option to prepare. She was already a life insurance agent offering whole life and term life policies to families. She decided she would add Final Expense plans and educate families on Pre-need and Final Expense options.

Three weeks had passed after the death and burial of her mother when she got the early morning call from her sister that their nephew was killed in a motorcycle accident. He was only 30 years old and left behind a wife and a six-month-old daughter. Carol had not long before spoken with her nephew about life insurance to protect his family financially if anything were to happen to him. He had said he would plan to get with her later, but later never came soon enough. He had no burial plans at the time of his death; however, his community loved him so much that his employer and co-workers financed his burial arrangements.

Carol and her family had just experienced two devastating losses within three weeks. However, before she could process it all she received yet another phone call two weeks after her nephew’s passing. This time it was her 16-year-old cousin. Carol never personally knew her cousin, but she would come to know him because she was asked to be one of the primary fund-raisers for his burial. Her cousin had no burial plan and no life insurance policy in place. Like many, his mother previously had life insurance on him but when times became rough financially for her, the policy was one of the first things to go. She figured because he was so young, she had time to replace the policy when her finances improved. No one was prepared for his sudden death. No one knew he had underlying health conditions that would claim his life at an incredibly young age. His mother, of course, was distraught.

Carol’s aunt asked her to help with the fundraiser. It was difficult finding financial assistance to cover the burial expenses, but Carol felt a sense of purpose for her life in helping others. Her heart broke not only for herself and her immediate family at the loss of their mother and nephew but for her cousin who was painstakingly grieving the loss of her child while worrying about finances. It was five months after the passing of Carol’s young cousin before his body was laid to final rest. The ordeal of reaching out to churches, businesses, and communities for help and hearing the word “no” over and over was very frustrating and Carol knew something had to be done as many families deal with this situation every day, she was sure of it. No one, especially a parent, should have to beg for funds to bury their loved one. She vowed to make a difference.

It was November 2017 when Carol wrote her first book titled, “Prepared Love – When Love After Death Lasts a Lifetime.” The purpose of the book, Carol said, was to shed some light on the importance of being prepared. She wanted to give her parents recognition for making grief for her and her siblings bearable without the added stress of burial arrangements. She wanted to explain how being prepared in this way is a lasting love given to those left behind. She wanted to also show contrast in being unprepared as with her other family members. Carol has been told by many that her book has helped others struggling with grief; however, she said it wasn’t meant to be a self-help book per se, though she included helpful links for those suffering the same ordeals she had. She’s grateful it has helped others.

In September 2019 Prepared Love for Families was formed. This organization has several programs, of which one is The American Funeral Program (AFP). This AFP serves as the main staple of Prepared Love for Families as it is the foundation on which the organization was formed.

The American Funeral Program (AFP) consists of four parts:

1) AFP aims to raise funding for families who are struggling with burying their child or another loved one.

2) AFP provides grief counseling in collaboration with licensed and experienced counseling centers either in a group setting or privately.

3) AFP educates the beneficiaries (and communities) on the importance of being prepared and how to prepare for emergencies such as the loss of a loved one.

4) AFP provides follow-up services for at least the first year to the families who benefitted from the program.