Many people aren’t aware that the federal government will help cover funeral expenses for victims of COVID, but a family from Staten Island who lost their patriarch during the pandemic spent the last two years trying to qualify for the compensation.
The family turned to 7 On Your Side’s Nina Pineda to help them get assistance from FEMA for funeral expenses.
“The shock isn’t the word because it was a normal day, January,” widow Debbie Saraceno said.
January 26, 2022, would go from normal to the worst day of the Saraceno family’s lives.
“I got the call, it was her oldest daughter, ‘hurry up, get to mommy’s, daddy can’t breathe,'” Anthony’s sister Vicky Saraceno said.
But her brother, Debbie’s husband of 43 years and father of three and grandfather to six grandchildren, would never wake up. It was their funeral director who told the widow FEMA would help with burial expenses.
“You’re entitled to money back because Anthony passed from COVID,” Debbie Saraceno said.
She applied for the COVID-19 funeral assistance, but was denied.