Funding available for COVD-19-related funeral expenses Staff Report GALION — Families that have experienced the death of a loved one due to COVID-19 may be eligible for up to $9,000 in funeral assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), according to a press release issued by the Snyder Funeral Home-Richardson Davis Chapel. Two pieces of legislation recently passed by Congress — the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021 and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 — authorized FEMA to provide financial assistance to families that incurred COVID-19-related funeral expenses after Jan. 20, 2020. “This has been an extraordinarily difficult year as hundreds of thousands of families throughout the country have unexpectedly had to plan a funeral when a loved one died of COVID-19,” said Chuck Jackson, director of Snyder Funeral Homes, Richardson Davis Chapel. “Our hearts are with, not only the families we have served, but everyone in this community who is grieving the death of a loved one or friend due to the pandemic. While this assistance cannot take away their pain and grief, it will make a tremendous difference by enabling them to meaningfully honor the life of their loved one and lay them to rest with dignity.”