YP Spotlight YP Spotlight How do you spend your time outside of work? Is there anything in particular that you enjoy doing? Time outside of work? What? Huh? Funeral professionals have that? Bring these people to me at once! I demand to know where from they’re getting “time” outside of work. Setting some kidding aside, when I’m not at VFC I love to cook and really do anything in the kitchen, watch funeral-related videos online, visit local breweries, go to restaurants with my mom who lives in Dunedin, be outside and enjoy NOT having to wear a suit while outdoors in the middle of the day. Who or what inspires you? There are a string of moments and experiences that are a snapshot of the passion for why I do this. Most of this/these come from embalming and prep. When you are able to take someone who is thin, gray, sunken-in, dehydrated, not looking anywhere near like they normally did and, with time, discipline, good training and some finesse, they look just like the picture... that’s the grand slam. Challenge accepted. What do you value most about OGR? I’ve been a member of OGR for 2 years. I first met Nancy Weil very shortly after starting here at Veterans Funeral Care. Her enthusiasm along with sharing with me that there are professional development offerings through OGR peaked my interest to dig deeper. Coming from corporate-owned locations, being at an OGR network and independently owned location - what a BIG eye-opener. There really IS a different way of doing things for which nobody up the chain is going to question, argue, revise or disapprove. For lack of a better cliche, an OGR location really helped me to spread my wings, gain altitude and know there was a solid support system (great management team) if I was flying too close to the sun. Furthermore, the availability of other independently owned/managed locations from which to pull ideas, advice or perspective has impacted my experiences these last few years. What is your favorite OGR memory? The YP Summit event here in Clearwater/St. Pete back 22 www.ogr.org | Winter 2021 Cahill (4th from right) and other OGR Young Professionals at a baseball game during the February 2020 YP Summit in Clearwater / St. Petersburg, Florida. (photo courtesy Peter Urban, Jr.) in February 2020. Between all the training, classes, group think, role-playing and business betterment segments, there were real moments of friendship and camaraderie that weekend. Dinners out, playing cornhole, staying up way too late down in the hotel restaurant and going to see a baseball game on a Chamber of Commerce caliber day really made for a three-day triple-play of great moments. The organization as a whole tries to ‘follow the Golden Rule.’ What other words do you try to live by? The Golden Rule has real power. Having more people pay attention to that out in the world would be greatly helpful for us all. Additional words to live by for me include: We have a finite and ever shrinking amount of time in this life. Do your best with the little less we have every day. Being halfway through my life at this point, it’s important to dedicate every week that I have to doing something good for people. High-quality funeral care is my medium to make their days (people who’ve had a loss) a little brighter, and for me it’s a way to make my parents proud.
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