Paying to Rest a Loved One
Car-wash fund-raisers become a trend in Fresno as families work to earn burial costs in the thousands.
By Diana Marcum
The Fresno Bee
(Published Sunday, December 8, 2002, 5:01 AM)
When Marcos Zuniga sees a car wash, he wonders who died.
In his neighborhood, sudsy camaraderie doesn't mean raising money for cheerleading camp or a church social. It means a grieving family trying to come up with cash for a funeral.
Every weekend and on many weekdays, mourners stand on street corners waving hand-painted signs that read "Car wash for ... " followed by the name of the deceased. Sometimes people pass out fliers with a photo of the dead child, grandmother, uncle, cousin, sibling, friend.
If Zuniga's burgundy truck is dirty -- even a little -- he'll stop. The southeast Fresno resident would never dream of going to some corporate, drive-through car wash. Not when people need cash to bury a loved one.
"Besides, at a funeral car wash, they really put their heart into it," he said.
In other cities, a funeral car wash usually signals one of two things: a gang slaying or a high-profile death -- high school students killed by a drunken driver, a police-involved shooting, a homicide -- where the car wash is supposed to raise attention as well as funds.
But in the Fresno area, car washes also are held by working families whose only goal is to pay for a funeral. A simple service, basic casket and burial runs between $5,000 and $9,000. National experts say they haven't seen the practice of family funeral car washes anywhere else.
"Car washes, that's a totally new one to me," said Lisa Carlson, executive director of Funeral Consumers Alliance, a national nonprofit organization based in Vermont. "But I'm not surprised. It seems like a creative answer to the question of how to come up with $9,000. What's next -- bake sales?"
The practice is so common in the Fresno area that funeral homes routinely hand out letters that verify the date of the service, name of relatives and cost of the funeral so people holding car washes can show they are legitimate. Some minimarts and liquor stores host so many families in their parking lots that they keep funeral car wash calendars. And linen companies donate towels.
