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Blog archive

November 2024

Event of Remembrance
11/22/2024

Phishing Scams: What You Need to Know
11/22/2024

Pupusas Family Style: Another Adventurous Dining Winner
11/22/2024

Celebrating the Holidays
11/21/2024

Genealogy Group: Discovering Our Pasts
11/21/2024

Nathan Wolford – From Tragedy to Ministry
11/21/2024

Pasadena Village Board of Directors: A Brief Overview
11/21/2024

President's Message
11/21/2024

The Day of the Dead (Dia de muertos)/ Mexican Culture/Community
11/21/2024

Vintage Celebration: Aging Like a Fine Wine
11/21/2024

Review of Racism in Our Local Past
11/20/2024

Creative Juices Flow in The Village
11/19/2024

Checking In by Ed Rinderle
11/15/2024

Eagle Poem by Joy Harjo
11/15/2024

I Shall Forget You Presently, My Dear (Sonnet IV) by Edna St. Vincent Millay
11/15/2024

Pictures From Brueghel by William Carlos Williams
11/15/2024

October 2024

ARBORIST WALK: NOT FOR TREE HUGGERS ONLY!
10/29/2024

Bill Wishner: Visual Hunter
10/29/2024

Can a Village Group Fix Our Healthcare System?
10/29/2024

Community Board Directors Strengthen Village Board
10/29/2024

Connecting with Village Connections: The A, B, C, & D’s of Medicare @ 65+
10/29/2024

Grief is a Journey: Two Paths Taken
10/29/2024

Message from the President
10/29/2024

Promoting Informed & Involved Voters
10/29/2024

What Will Be Your Legacy?
10/29/2024

1619, Approaching the Election...
10/27/2024

Beyond and Within the Village - A Star is Born
10/17/2024

Happiness by Priscilla Leonard
10/11/2024

Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden
10/11/2024

Unpainted Door by Louise Gluck
10/11/2024

In the Evening by Billy Collins
10/10/2024

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver
10/10/2024

Betty Kilby, A Family History
10/01/2024

Betty Kilby, A Family History
10/01/2024

Betty Kilby, A Family History
10/01/2024

September 2024

August 2024

1619 Wide Ranging Interests
08/19/2024

1619 Wide Ranging Interests
08/19/2024

First Anniversary
08/19/2024

Alexandra Leaving by Leonard Cohen
08/16/2024

Muse des Beaux Arts by W. H. Auden
08/16/2024

The God Abandons Antony by Constantinos P. Cavafy
08/16/2024

Ch – Ch – Ch –Changes
08/15/2024

Cultural Activities Team offers an ‘embarrassment of riches’
08/15/2024

Engaging in Pasadena Village
08/15/2024

Future Housing Options
08/15/2024

Message from the President
08/15/2024

There Are Authors Among Us
08/15/2024

Villagers Welcome New Members at the Tournament Park Picnic
08/15/2024

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas
08/14/2024

A narrow Fellow in the Grass by Emily Dickinson
08/13/2024

Haikus
08/13/2024

One Art by Elizabeth Bishop
08/13/2024

Poem 20 by Pablo Neruda
08/13/2024

Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
08/13/2024

Trees by Joyce Kilmer
08/13/2024

July 2024

June 2024

May 2024

Emergency Preparedness: Are You Ready?
05/28/2024

Farewell from the 2023/24 Social Work Interns
05/28/2024

Gina on the Horizon
05/28/2024

Mark Your Calendars for the Healthy Aging Research California Virtual Summit
05/28/2024

Meet Our New Development Associate
05/28/2024

Putting the Strategic Plan into Practice
05/28/2024

Washington Park: Pasadena’s Rediscovered Gem
05/28/2024

Introducing Civil Rights Discussions
05/22/2024

Rumor of Humor #2416
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2417
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2417
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2418
05/14/2024

Springtime Visitors
05/07/2024

Freezing for a Good Cause – Credit, That Is
05/02/2024

No Discussion Meeting on May 3rd
05/02/2024

An Apparently Normal Person Author Presentation and Book-signing
05/01/2024

Flintridge Center: Pasadena Village’s Neighbor That Changes Lives
05/01/2024

Pasadena Celebrates Older Americans Month 2024
05/01/2024

The 2024 Pasadena Village Volunteer Appreciation Lunch
05/01/2024

Woman of the Year: Katy Townsend
05/01/2024

April 2024

March 2024

February 2024

January 2024

What Will Be Your Legacy?

By Bridget Brewster
Posted: 10/29/2024
Tags: bridget brewster, legacy society, newsletter november 2024

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. 

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