Steve Ganaway now owns the North Nashville funeral home where he once cut grass for pocket change—and he is using the business to help families facing impossible burial bills. At SAG Funeral Home, his work has included trimming costs for a young woman with brain cancer and helping organize support for a great-great-grandmother burying a child lost to gun violence.
Ganaway told NewsChannel 5 Nashville that he helped a young woman who had planned a $10,000 funeral but had only $6,000 available. He said he agreed to provide the requested services for that amount, then returned $2,000 so she could keep money for her own needs, while also contacting pastors across Nashville to help another family.
That kind of gap is not just a private family problem in Nashville. Metro Social Services says its burial-assistance program serves eligible Davidson County residents or people who die in the county without sufficient resources, assets or insurance to cover burial expenses.
A Childhood Connection To The Buchanan Street Funeral Home
The backstory is unusually literal: Ganaway grew up around the same building on Buchanan Street, cutting its grass every other Saturday as a boy. According to NewsChannel 5 Nashville, he was paid two quarters and was allowed only as far as the front door when he collected them.
After Ganaway’s father died, his mother could not pay the full funeral bill upfront. In the station’s account, another Nashville funeral director let her put $40 down on a $515 bill and pay $20 per month—a gesture Ganaway said pushed him toward the funeral business.
Years later, the building went up for sale and Ganaway bought it. The former grass-cutting stop now operates as SAG Funeral Home, where Ganaway says he is carrying forward the compassion once shown to his mother.
