3 minute read
Beyond COVID-19: Planning Today to Impact Tomorrow
By Cara Tucker, Planned Giving Coordinator, Fund Development Council
If this last year has taught us anything, it is that time is precious. Health is precious. Life is precious. So much was taken away one year ago as we hunkered down for “two weeks to stop the spread.” Two weeks turned into months. Over these months, some of us lost loved ones that we will not see again in this life. Other loved ones, we may still be waiting to hug for the first time in more than a year. We acutely yearn to hug and kiss, to gather, to travel, to eat out, to volunteer, to hit the gym and so much more without fear. We have missed our family and friends, our work colleagues, our community members. While there is hope at our fingertips with the vaccine, that does not negate the inestimable toll that the COVID-19 pandemic has taken on our society, on us as individuals, on our children. But, if the Junior League of Charlotte, Inc. (JLC) has taught us anything, it’s that you—yes, you who are reading this now— have the power to positively impact our community right now and for the future.
For 95 years, the JLC has provided women with many opportunities to volunteer and to help Charlotte be better each day for the people, especially the children, who call it home. Over these many years, the JLC has developed the potential of countless women in our community—women who have taken their gifts and skills to enrich their homes, their schools, their places of worship, their neighborhoods, their city. Since 1925, the JLC has volunteered more than 1.6 million hours in the Charlotte community and invested more than $13.7 million in contributions to the Charlotte community. There have been many meaningful projects resulting from these investments, including the Council for Children’s Rights, Reid Park Academy Community School, Discovery Place and the Levine Children’s Hospital Family Resource Center. Continuing the JLC’s important mission and work for future generations will be all the more critical to the Charlotte community as we audaciously hope and plan for not only recovery but our community’s future beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. To that end, we encourage you to invest in the long-term financial sustainability of the JLC by making a planned gift to the League. A planned gift may be an outright contribution to the JLC, such as cash, personal property or real estate. It may also be a planned contribution, such as a bequest in your will, a charitable gift annuity or even naming the JLC as a beneficiary of retirement assets. The JLC website includes helpful tools to assist you in organizing information for your estate planning efforts, including a comprehensive Resource Planning Guide and a Memorial Gift Request Form.
To impact the JLC’s important mission and work today, we also encourage you to make a charitable contribution to the JLC Annual Fund, which provides monetary support to the League’s community partners that work to make sure kids are school ready. The Annual Fund also supports the creation of member training and leadership opportunities. Contributions to the Annual Fund help us make a difference in the Charlotte community.
Let’s not wait a single moment before taking action to cement our deep personal commitment to the continued success of the JLC’s mission to promote voluntarism, develop the potential of women and improve our community through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. For more information on how you can plan today to impact tomorrow, visit https://www. jlcharlotte.org/support/planned-giving/.
