What is a Legacy Project? 10 Legacy Project Ideas

When you lose someone precious to you, it is normal to feel bereft. Here is someone who mattered in your life, and now that person is gone. You can find ways to keep your loved one’s memory alive, though, in a tangible way, by creating a legacy project. What is a legacy project? It is something we create to honour a life, share that person’s story, and keep his or her memory alive. When you create a legacy project for a loved one, carefully consider the person’s interests, passions and deeply held convictions, and you will find a meaningful way to honour that person. Here, we offer some suggestions, to get you thinking about what might be right for your legacy project.

1. Begin a nonprofit. Sometimes, when you lose a loved one, you have the opportunity to reach out to others. Maybe you will take your personal tragedy and use it to draw awareness to a problem or an illness. You might start a nonprofit organization that furthers a cause your loved one supported, like animal rescue.
2. Ensure your loved one’s work endures. Was your loved one a creator? Publishing an unpublished work, producing a previously unknown play, or releasing a piece of music composed by someone you loved can be a way of honouring his or her legacy.
3. Recreate the person’s memories. You might recreate photos of your loved one, or take a trip the person once took, traveling to the same places and taking the same photos.
4. Begin a new business. If your loved one always encouraged you to pursue a particular passion, follow through with the project and start a business. You may even want to give the business a name that honours the person.
5. Keep the adventures going. Did you used to camp together? Climb mountains? Participate in sports? After his or her death, you can keep doing these things in your loved one’s memory.
6. Establish a grant. You can set up a grant in your loved one’s name, to raise money for a favourite charitable cause or to fund medical research. That way, you can comfort yourself with the knowledge that something good has come from a sad situation.
7. Do some community service. Maybe you are not someone with money to start a business, or the necessary knowledge to set up a grant or nonprofit. You can still do good things for the world in honour of your loved one, by devoting your time to a cause that mattered to the person.
8. Host a family dinner. Especially if the person you lost loved to entertain, breaking out your loved one’s favourite recipes and hosting a dinner for others who loved that person can be an extremely special way to create a legacy. Who knows? It might even become a tradition.
9. Create a scrapbook. Make a scrapbook of your loved one’s life, collecting pictures, postcards, letters, award certificates, and other things that represent his or her life. Fill a scrapbook with these memories and share it with family members and friends.
10. Commission a portrait. It is an old fashioned way to honour someone, but can be very meaningful. Whether you hire an artist or have an artistic family member create a likeness, this is something that can keep the person’s memory alive for future generations.

The first step in honouring the memory of a loved one is creating a funeral or memorial service that respects the person and creates a lasting memory to cherish. Founded in 2002 by Nigel Gillard, Bridgwater Funeral Services Limited, in the centre of Bridgwater, Somerset, is a family business that provides personal service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Traditions both old and modern are honoured here, with Green and Woodland burials, horse-drawn funerals, military funerals, and services in all religious denominations as well as non-religious and humanist life celebrations. We also offer low-cost funerals and Golden Charter pre-paid funeral plans. If you have queries about the services we offer, call us at 01278 457755, pop into our office on Bristol Road, or contact us through our website.