DE PERE, Wis. — There have been more than half a million COVID-19-related deaths across the country, including more than 6,000 in Wisconsin.

What You Need To Know

  • There have been more than half a million COVID-19-related deaths across the country, including more than 6,000 in Wisconsin

  • Starting Monday, families who lost a loved one from COVID-19 after January 2020 can apply for help through FEMA

  • FEMA is opening applications for families to receive funeral expenses reimbursement, up tp $9,000 per funeral

  • FEMA will have a designated phone number and representatives for applicants to call in

Each family mourning the loss of a loved one and navigating through unexpected funeral arrangements. 

Matt Cotter, funeral director of Cotter Funeral Home has been in the business of helping grieving families for years, but things got especially tough when the pandemic hit. 

"Its just been a year of incredible uncertainty for families, and along with that uncertainty comes, unfortunately,  a lack of closure for a lot of them," says Cotter. "It’s been very difficult, it doesn’t get any easier despite the many times we’ve had to have that conversation with families."

Funeral services average in cost anywhere between $7,000- $9,000, but starting Monday, families who lost a loved one from COVID-19 after January 2020 can apply for help through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). FEMA is opening applications for families to receive funeral expenses reimbursement, up tp $9,000 per funeral.

"We do have a couple of families in mind that I know really, really need this money," explains Cotter. "Even a dollar out of their pockets is a dollar that they weren’t planning on."

Some of the requirements to apply are as follows:

  • Applicant must provide a death certificate
  • Itemized cost of funeral expenses
  • Cause of death must be linked to COVID-19
  • Death occurred in the U.S/ U.S territory to qualify
  • Maximum of $9,000 per funeral, more than one application is valid

Cotter hopes to be a respires to families that may qualify that have used their services.

"If they don’t have the documentation that they need, we’ll certainly get that for them again from our records," says Cotter. "So we want to make sure that they are first of all prepared when they make that phone call."

FEMA will have a designated phone number and representatives for applicants to call in, this will be the only option to begin the application process. Applicants can call (844) 684-6333 from 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday through Friday to start an application.

Visit https://www.fema.gov/disasters/coronavirus/economic/funeral-assistance/faq for a full list of eligibility requirements.