EXPERIENCE
The Vangrunderbeek company is active in the funeral business since the beginning of the previous century. At first Grandfather Jef, then sun Willy and finally grandchildren Benoît and Christine Vangrunderbeek were able to, thanks to their professionalism and to the human attitude of " the team ", to develop the family company. By giving her the necessary fame we became little by little one of the biggest funeral parlors in Belgium with an international recognition.
NATIONAL and INTERNATIONAL
When in the years ' 70 the first repatriation insurance companies developed, it seemed to me that I could offer them the service which they needed. Help and assist in a effective, fast and deserving way families with mourning abroad.
During more than 25 years I was active in the funeral sector both in Belgium and on the international shot. Our duty was to support and to inform more than nine hundred families yearly while considering them as by being our only family with mourning.
TSUNAMI
In December, 2004, during the Tsunami, which made thousands of victims in Thailand, I made the decision to leave for Phuket and to go to help families with distress. Two days after the disaster, I arrived with two co-workers. During two weeks we helped families to find their missing persons and to repatriate them towards their respective countries. We organized the paperwork, embalming, coffins and transportation to there home country. We repatriated all the Belgians, as well as Italians, Swedes, Turks, Spanish and deceases of the other countries.
It is only after my return that I realized all the horror which I had lived. Emotionally it had become me impossible to continue to help the other families. The need to direct me to other professional horizons was felt quickly. After 25 years in an environment where I had the experience and recognition of my colleagues and competitors, the decision was difficult but necessary.
OBJECTIVE
When in 2009 the mom of my best friend died and when he asked me to organize the burial, I felt the need again to support and to help families to return a deserving tribute to their dear missing persons. The images of the Tsunami will stay in me for ever in memory, but today I retain especially all these thanks of the families which I helped. I made the mourning of my suffering too and I have again strength, the need and the motivation to help families with mourning.
Benoît Vangrunderbeek.