Brooklyn funeral director urges city to include funeral workers in Hometown Heroes Parade

A Brooklyn funeral director urged the city to recognize people who have been tirelessly working to bury and honor the dead.
Funeral director Kiki Valentine-Rakowsky says the mayor's office originally excluded workers like her from the Hometown Heroes' Ticker Tape Parade, which is meant to honor essential workers.
She says when people were dying, workers like her were there for the living and the dead - whether helping get money from FEMA or helping with casualties.
"To omit the people who worked with the dead and for the families seemed like a glaring gap on behalf of the city,” Valentine-Rakowsky says. "To overlook the people on the ground pulling bodies out of trailers and all the horrific stories speaks to a larger issue… we're all going to die someday. Everyone is going to need a funeral director."
After speaking to the mayor’s office, she says funeral workers like crematory staff, embalmers and grave diggers will be included. Still, she says she believes they should have been in the first place.
The Hometown Heroes Parade is planned for July 7 in Manhattan.