Garfield’s recycling program is only one of many ways it continues to put impact first. Garfield donated masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE) to hospitals during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, hosts tree-planting events at parks in Northeast Philadelphia, and operates with state-ofthe-art pollution control and filtration equipment at its refinery. In fact, Garfield was recently recognized by the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for its work to improve local parks and streams. Behind each of these efforts is the talented staff at Garfield. Among the team is Cameron Axelson. He has been serving on the MFDA Board as Garfield’s Vendor/Supplier Representative and has staunchly advocated for Garfield’s crematory programs and their social impact. Axelson is a born-and-raised Montanan who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Montana in 2008 and is currently pursuing his master’s in Healthcare Administration. Axelson has a long professional career in the death care industry. He spent over 14 years as a Recovery Team Leader on the clinical side of donation and as a Donor Relations Account Manager for LifeNet Health. There, he was responsible for the sterile recovery of allografts, building and maintaining relationships with local hospitals and community partners, including medical examiners, coroners, funeral homes, EMS services, and the state of Montana 911 programs to increase awareness and participation in tissue donation. Axelson maintains a Certified Tissue Banking Specialist certification with the American Association of Tissue Banks and was an elected board member of the Washington State Funeral Directors Association. In his career as a death care professional, he believes the crematory program Garfield offers has been one of the most impactful endeavors he’s seen. He relishes that it came from an over-century-old company that continues to serve its local community while working with clients from around the globe. When asked: “What does social impact look like? What does it look like within the death care industry?” Axelson said, “Look no further than Garfield for answers.” ■ “Garfield’s representatives have always been very responsive to our needs and provided us with very good technical assistance as we developed our metal recovery program. With their help, we have provided significant funding to several non-profit organizations. THANK YOU, Garfield, for all you do for us!” – Paul Evans, Evans Burial Vaults & Crematorium. “Garfield is very user-friendly and personally has been a pleasure to work with. The tour of the plant and how the metals are processed was fascinating. Garfield is a company that helped us with an updated cremation processor so we could collect more small metal pieces. Thank you, Garfield, for helping Eastern Crematory.” – Laurie & Harry Fash, Eastern Crematory. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 19 20 Montana Funeral Directors Association
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy ODQxMjUw