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What Will Be Your Legacy?

Well, we’re not getting any younger, folks, and our future is catching up with us and sometimes colliding with our past.  Many of us are thinking about how we will be remembered.  Will we be remembered at all?  What words will be used to describe us?  Do we care? Can we take this moment to determine, at the very least, how we can leave a positive mark on the world? 

This past Spring, Pasadena Village established a Village Legacy Society.  As you know, I’m sure, a Legacy Society is created first and foremost to support an organization.  Knowing that, we can have a tendency to think in a couple ways: I don’t have money to give away, or why should I give to them.  Now, I don’t know about you, but I have been seriously considering my legacy for at least a decade.  So, when Pasadena Village announced the creation of a Legacy Society for Villagers who have made, or are willing to make, a plan for a future gift to Pasadena Village, my interest was piqued.

Legacy gifts to the Village ensure sustainable support for older adults like us who want to continue to age in place.  A provision in your will or trust designating an amount or percentage of your estate or naming Pasadena Village as a beneficiary in your life insurance policy or retirement account (such as an IRA) will be “a gift that keeps on giving” long after we have passed on.  That idea excites me!  Maybe not quite as much as imagining my grandchildren saying funny things about me long after I’m gone, but it’s an idea that leads down a very positive path of helping others . . . now and in the future.

Fritzie Culick takes a long-term perspective on Legacy giving. “I decided to put the Village in my estate plan when the letter came asking Villagers to consider doing this. I've long been involved in requesting the same thing from members of my college class, so fully understand the need, and the long-term consequences involved. The fact that the Village is a relatively new organization and is just beginning to build up a financial base was the primary reason I responded right away. It's important for that support to get started and to grow.”

Clearly, other Villagers were excited to be given this opportunity, too. More than a dozen responded to the invitation to be part of the Pasadena Village Legacy Society almost immediately.   Dave Folz took action right away when this opportunity to make a lasting difference presented itself.  When asked what prompted his action he said, “The Village has given me so much pleasure for the past several years, that the least I can do is leave a little money when I go.” 

Recently, Pasadena Village accepted its first Legacy gift.  Peter Lesourd, one of the founding Villagers, passed away in January of this year, and had named the Village in his Will.  In early September, the Village received $10,000 because of Peter’s visionary passion for the Village.  Just this week, the Village received notice of another estate gift.  This one is from Richard Davis who was not a Villager, but had been a long-time supporter and believed in the Pasadena Village mission of supporting one another as we age. All of us in the Village will benefit from these generous gifts in ways seen and unseen.

The Village has had a tremendously positive effect on my life in just three years.  I want to express my gratitude by leaving a gift in my Will (after all, I can’t take it with me) that will help others (maybe my own children someday) to be part of a community of support.  I realize that it’s not how much I can give, but about walking my talk and giving from the little I have.  So, in addition to the love I will leave to my family and friends, I will be helping aging adults find dynamic, life-giving support.  I hope you will consider joining me and other Villagers who have made the decision to leave a legacy for all the Villagers who come after us.

For more information, visit the Village Legacy Society page.