Lemon Aid Michigan

Experiencing the loss of a loved one to suicide can be a profoundly isolating and challenging life experience. Lemon Aid would like to help.

Lemon Aid logo

Our Services

Do you need assistance paying for costs associated with the loss of your loved one to suicide, or need emotional and resource support? Lemon Aid may be able to help with costs associated with:

Lemon Aid Applicant Requirements

  • Suicide loss survivors who are residents of Michigan, or their loved one was a resident of Michigan.
  • Survivor experienced their loss within the last 12 months.
  • Applicant must be the next of kin, or a third party and/or organization assisting the next of kin with their explicit consent.
  • Death must be designated as suicide on the death certificate, or likely to be determined so, to begin the application process.
  • Or Marquette County residents, or loss survivors whose person died within the past 7 days.

Supports Provided

Financial

We do our best to provide as much financial assistance as we can for each case. This assistance is dependent on the funds available at the time of the application. Some examples of covered services are: complete funeral services, cremation, grave markings and urns, obituaries, and death certificate copies, and various other after-death costs.

Emotional

Each case is assigned a Lemon Aid representative, often a mental health specialist, who provides informal, supportive conversations. Survivors can share their grief, talk about their loved one, discuss challenges, or simply find a space to express their emotions.

Resource

Lemon Aid recognizes that suicide loss survivors often need more than emotional support; they may also need housing, insurance, job training, and childcare. Our representatives work with applicants to connect them with resources aimed at building stability and growth beyond the immediate crisis.

Ethos

Six Feet Over believes everyone deserves the dignity of a respectful service after death, and that their loved ones deserve the opportunity to grieve their loss in a dignified way. Lemon Aid provides them the opportunity to not only provide these services, but to do so while also relieving the financial and emotional burdens as much as possible. Suicide loss is a complicated grief. We operate under a culture of respect, compassion and support to help guide them through their loss. Dignity first. Always.

Apply For Assistance

Click below to apply and the Lemon Aid staff will follow up as urgently as possible to learn more about your needs and discuss your options.

Michigan Intake Form

Apply for Support in Michigan

Marquette County Intake Form

Apply for Support in Marquette County, Michigan

How Financial Assistance Works

Explore Service Providers and Acquire Quotes

If a client has not found service providers to suit their needs at the time of their initial application, Lemon Aid can assist in helping them find those appropriate service providers and gather basic quotes based on applicant specifications. Lemon Aid does not hire service providers or plan services for clients.

Financial Limits

  • All assistance is capped at no more than $6,000
  • The current average is $3,000 per case
  • Financial assistance given is based on what is available and is decided by Lemon Aid Committee members
  • Funds are not guaranteed to clients and cases prior to approval by the Lemon Aid Committee

Outstanding Balance Payment

Many times, clients find us after services have been rendered and they owe a balance on those services. Lemon Aid steps in as the entity liable for payment of the owed funds if the case is approved.

Payment Reimbursement

We often encounter clients that have borrowed money from others, as well as using funds they may have available to them personally. Lemon Aid will work with the applicant and those who helped fund the services to reimburse them.

FAQs

Immediate family, close friends, a case worker, anyone who wants to help the family as long as the next of kin are aware they are doing it and give consent to do so. We will supply a document for them to sign if they choose to have a third party work with us on their behalf.

It depends on your case, but it is likely we will ask for receipts, invoices, bank or credit card statements (redacted, we only want to see the info we need) showing payment of services, etc.

Death certificates are mandatory before any funding can be provided.

After the case has been approved for funding and the death certificate has been supplied to us. This could take 2 days, or it could take months. It depends on each situation and how quickly we get the documents we need.

Absolutely! We want to make sure every loss survivor has the support they deserve!

As long as your person was a resident of Michigan, then yes you can use this program.

This gets a little wonky, but the short answer is maybe. If you feel strongly that your person intentionally overdosed let us know. We can do a Criteria Review where we interview folks close to them and do some investigative work to see if there is evidence it was likely suicide. This would be done by the case worker assigned to the case and then voted on by a committee to determine if you are eligible.

No. Your dignity is important to us. While understanding your hardship overall will help guide us in how we can best help you and those also grieving, we will not ask for proof of your financials.

Funds are given directly to whom it is owed. Examples: If there is an outstanding balance at a funeral home, a check will go directly to the funeral home. If an individual contributed funds to help pay for services and they supplied the appropriate documents supporting that, a check would go to them.

Are you in crisis?

If you or someone you know is in crisis, you have options. Please text “HOME” to 741-741 to speak with a trained counselor; call or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline; call 911; or visit your nearest Emergency Room.