Directors Investment Group (DIG), the parent company of Funeral Directors Life and Passare, has a driving mission to do the “best, most-respected” thing in all situations. However, this mission is not limited to the funeral profession; we are called to extend our service to the community and those in need.

Every year around the holidays, employees come together to bless families through various nonprofit organizations. Love and Care Ministries is a Christian-based nonprofit that helps homeless families in need in Abilene and the surrounding area. One of their long-time outreach programs is “Mission Thanksgiving,” which has served families for 24 years.

This program invites community members and businesses to donate canned goods, nonperishable food items, hygiene products, and other goods to support Abilene families in need.

Mission Thanksgiving was the perfect opportunity for DIG employees to give back to the community in an impactful way!

A Call to Serve

Before the team could fundraise, they needed the guidance of a special person and DIG who could provide all the details.

Judy Farmer, Document Processing Specialist at Funeral Directors Life, has been volunteering for Mission Thanksgiving for the past 4 years, and she has been the coordinator of DIG’s Mission Thanksgiving fundraising efforts. At the October all-company luncheon, Judy mentioned the program and how she was looking for volunteers.

Her passion for serving was abundantly clear as she stated:

“When we join forces, the impact reaches further and extends to other surrounding communities.”

After the luncheon, nearly 70 employees signed up to participate and bless families in need.

All that remained was to start giving!

Fundraising Fun

This year, the drive took place on Friday, November 17, 2023.

Volunteers were placed into different fundraising teams to get creative with ways to raise money. Each team implemented a fundraiser that encouraged employees throughout the home office to give. The fundraisers spanned the whole week and included events such as:

An all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet

– A “soup-er” chili lunch

– A pulled pork and baked potato bar

– A bake sale

– And more!

Employees were encouraged to donate money to participate in the food fundraisers. The teams would use that money to buy food and hygiene items for Mission Thanksgiving.

Our employees were easily motivated by our mission to be helpers of people. Participation was even higher than years past!

After all was said and done, we donated close to 2 tons of food items and well over 5,300 hygiene items.

(Pictured are some of the food and hygiene items donated to Mission Thanksgiving.)

Paying it forward

Our main objective as a company is to do right by people by doing the “best, most-respected” action. We were honored to be able to pay it forward and be helpers of people.

Helping those in our community and our customers will always be top of mind. This was just one example of how we are constantly accepting the challenge to serve well.

Judy said it best:

“When we are serving, we are doing more than just filling people’s bellies; we are filling their souls. Jesus calls on all of us to be His hands and feet, which entails that we love and care for everyone.”

To those who had a hand in the success of this program – thank you for embodying what it truly means to be helpers of people.