Americans seeking FEMA's funeral assistance eager for help but frustrated by the process

It was the last thing Chanice Newcomer thought would ever happen to her otherwise healthy father: A COVID-19 diagnosis and then sudden death. Stuck with a funeral bill that cost nearly $20,000, her family was hopeful when the federal government announced it was providing funeral assistance funding to Americans who lost someone to the disease. Newcomer was one of nearly a million callers who inundated a federal call center on opening day of a new funeral assistance program run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It took her hours to get through, and once she finally did, she said she was told to call back the next business day. “We were on hold for about four or five hours, and that includes multiple attempts,” said Newcomer. “It was a little crazy. But on the first day, I didn't really mind this as much just because I knew it was a lot of people calling.”