Barb Oakes on Leaving A Legacy Of Hope
Through Heifer Foundation
I had been an active volunteer, participant and donor with Heifer International for years before becoming involved with Heifer Foundation, a global partner of Heifer International that provides long-term support through planned giving.
My planned giving tool is an endowment that will be funded through my will and beneficiary designations of my investments and insurance. Any time I want to consider a change or add something else, I know that a helpful person who knows me on a first name basis is only a phone call away.
I have one brother who is disabled, my parents are deceased, and I have no spouse or
children. My kids are the Heifer project kids I have seen on study tours of Poland, Slovakia,
Honduras, the Philippines and here in the states.
The Foundation allows me a way to provide more help, beyond my life, to families I will never know, but think of as “my kids.”
With Heifer Foundation’s help and expertise, I have been able to identify the areas that are most important to me. I don’t want to be buried in a cemetery with a headstone, but I want someone to know I existed. Plaques on hospital walls and stones in college sidewalks are nice, but healthy, educated children that can look back and not see the shackles of poverty, disease and hardships are how I want to be remembered.
They may not know my name or face, but they will know that someone cared enough to help them.
I try my best to live out Gandhi’s mantra, “We must be the change we wish to see in the world.” Heifer Foundation will allow me, through my financial legacy, to continue doing that.
For more information on wills, click here.
