aebrown wrote:lajackson wrote:And the Relief Society sisters will be more than willing to help with a meal, as appropriate. Often they will donate the food as a pot luck, but the cost of the meal would come out of budget funds and would be simple, as well.
I don't see how the RS sisters could "donate the food as a pot luck"; that seems to me to be a misinterpretation of the narrow exception for "activities in which members provide food" (HB2, Section
13.2.8). But maybe I'm misunderstanding you, since you said in that same sentence that "the cost of the meal would come out of budget funds," which seems appropriate.
I suppose that in an ideal world, totally handbook compliant, those who provided food at a lunch or dinner after the funeral would be reimbursed for their costs. I guess that would also apply when dinners are taken in to a family during times of illness or loss.
The funerals and dinners with which I have been associated have been low-key, low cost, and any food provided was more along the lines of a gift from the contributing family to the grieving family than that of bringing a casserole to the ward social.
I will admit to having attended some funerals in some more established areas of the Church where there were so many in attendance that a ward social budget would not handle the expense. Out here in the hinterlands, we limit the lunch or dinner to the family, their most immediate friends (including any who traveled great distance), and those who are providing the food. Just because someone attends the the funeral does not mean they are invited to dinner.
Sometimes the food is provided at the cultural hall; sometimes it is provided at the home. It is always family centered.
And if a member is asked to bring a dish and join in the meal, and is not in a financial position to do so, they are reimbursed. And if there is a larger family, the ward sometimes furnishes the main dish and others bring salads or other items.
There are usually more asking to do something than there is need.
So yes, I suppose if I were asked to take a potato casserole over to my friend who had lost a family member, I should ask to be reimbursed. Rather than do that, I just let those who need to know that I am going to do it, and ask which day would be best to take it.
On the other hand, if the plan was to feed 150 in the cultural hall after the funeral, I would expect it to be funded out of the ward budget, lock, stock, and barrel. But we do not have ward budget for that, so we do not have big ward socials at the same time we have funerals.
I can see where this may be a problem where other larger traditions are different than ours and have become well established.