Son of Jeanette Grice launches platform for managing the chaos following tragedy

The Guardian Angel team (from left): Sam Grice, Roger Grice, Julian Phillips. Photo / Supplied

The son of Jeanette Grice, who was killed a year ago after being struck by a car outside Remuera's Palmers Garden Centre, is setting up a website to help people who have lost a family member.

Sam Grice, 29, is currently seeking investors to support the official launch of Guardian Angel, a free and private online platform for managing the chaos that follows tragedy.

Using Guardian Angel, friends and extended family will be able to organise tasks like picking up a relative from the airport or organising meal deliveries so families don't have to worry about cooking or grocery shopping while dealing with grief.

Flowers sent via the website are staggered, so they don't all arrive at once.

Guardian Angel also links family members with funeral directors, creating a central point of contact for making funeral arrangements.

Jeanette Grice, 60, was killed on December 4 last year while out walking with her husband Roger in Remuera.

She was hit by a car driven by St Heliers woman Mary Cross, 67, and died at the scene.

Jeanette Grice on holiday in Venice. Grice was killed after being hit by a car in Remuera last year. Photo / Supplied

On top of the emotional toll her death took on the family, the sudden nature of it presented a host of practical problems - something Sam Grice believes his new venture will take care of for other families battling tragedy.

"After mum's accident it became quite overwhelming," he said.

"First it started with the things we had to do - we had a lot of lists, but it was all on paper and it was quite hard to manage.

"I thought 'there has to be a better way'. Then the food and flowers started arriving and the house became completely overrun."

In the months following his mother's death, Sam came up with the idea for Guardian Angel.

"You get a lot of support in the first weeks," he said.

"Everyone's around you, food, flowers. Your friends and family - you're in a bubble. When that support leaves, it becomes quite difficult. All the support stops."

This wasn't because people didn't want to help, but because they were unsure about what they could offer, he said.

By inviting friends and family on to a private Guardian Angel network, tasks could be posted and picked up and family would know they were being taken care of.

The Grice family at the scene of of crash. Sam Grice (far right) says Guardian Angel will help manage the chaos which follows when a loved one dies. Photo / Supplied

Accounts for the site could be created using Facebook log in details but unlike Facebook, users could only see what was happening in networks they had been invited to by a family member.

The page is similar to other social media sites, but with more privacy and for a specific purpose - there was no chat function and strictly no cat memes, Grice said.

Overwhelmed by texts and calls of sympathy, family members could often be hard to reach by phone in the weeks after a sudden death, presenting a problem for funeral directors.

"No one wants to chase up a grieving family, and funeral directors are no different," Grice said.

"Families have a lot of funeral-related tasks they need completed in a very short time - deadlines are important."

Guardian Angel allows directors to add funeral-related tasks to networks, and alerts the family when they need to be completed.

"Interested funeral directors can email us and we can take them through the product. This is a tool they can offer, for free, to families they are helping."

The Guardian Angel home page. Networks are private and users have to be invited to join them. Photo / www.guardianangel.network

The service will generate income by taking a share of the sales of florists who partnered with the website.

Flowers are sent via Guardian Angel and deliveries are staggered over time through a partnership with The Flower Delivery company.

Grice is looking at adding similar partnerships, for example with food delivery or cleaning services.

"The flower and food delivery market for those sent after a death is roughly US$7 billion per annum in our target markets."

A social enterprise as well as a service, a percentage of Guardian Angel's profit will be donated to a trust helping families in need to finance funerals.

"The bigger Guardian Angel gets, the more people it helps."

Grice, his father Roger and his cousin Julian Phillips, whose combined experience includes creating start ups, consumer marketing, capital raising and commercialisation of digital technology, have partnered to run the business.

The trio are currently in discussions with investors to help take the concept global, pitching the website to investors in New Zealand, the UK and the US.

Grice hoped Guardian Angel would help make one of the hardest things a family ever has to go through a little easier.

"What surprises me is that social networks and global media have led to a world that's more interconnected than ever, yet in times of distress people tend to withdraw, and struggle to cope.

"Guardian Angel aims to help people through this."

• Funeral director enquires can be sent to sam@guardianangel.network