Have you recently lost someone to suicide?
Experiencing the loss of a loved one to suicide can be a profouondly isolating and challenging life experience. Lemon Aid would like to help.
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:
- Funerals and Memorial services
- Granite Memorials and Headstones
- Urns and Caskets
- Bio-Cleaning services & others
Apply For Assistance
We currently offer assistance in Michigan and Kansas. We are working hard to include other states. Please select your state below and the Lemon Aid staff will follow up as soon as possible to learn more about your needs and discuss options.
For information, please email us at info@sixftover.org.
Lemon Aid Applicant Requirements
- Suicide loss survivors who are residents of Michigan or Kansas, or their loved one was a resident Michigan or Kansas
- 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
We Provide Support
Client Advocate works virtually to help you in these areas
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 the brief emotional support we provide; they may also need housing, insurance, job training, long term therapists, and childcare. Our representatives work with applicants to connect them with resources aimed at building stability and growth beyond the immediate crisis.
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.
- The applicant shares the wishes of the deceased and/or that of the next of kin, in regards to preferred service needs
- Lemon Aid will contact local service providers to inquire about costs and availability
- Lemon Aid connects the service provider and the client to work together on service planning
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.
- The client supplies invoices to the Lemon Aid representative
- Lemon Aid contacts the service providers to work out the best way for payment to be made directly to them
- Depending on the funds available, Lemon Aid may only be able to pay a portion of the outstanding balance
- Lemon Aid uses the service providers preferred method of payment
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.
- Lemon Aid will request supporting receipts, statements and further documentation from those involved to vet all claims
- When all documentation has been supplied, we review them and assess the who, what and when for reimbursement
- Lemon Aid reimburses each vetted individual directly who made a claim
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
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!
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.