Money Matters
Winter 2015
Your gifts support the mission of Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America
MISSION To provide quality senior services guided by Christian values.
VISION Together we are making positive differences in the lives of seniors.
Inside This Issue: Can’t Help PMMA’s Communities Right Now? Q&A: Is a Charitable Gift Annuity Right for You? A 2015 New Year’s Resolution: Protect Your Estate
Giving Back for the Greater Good Caring for others is second nature to JoAnn (“Jody”) Furman. “The Lord has blessed me with a love for people,” Jody says. “I think even the smallest gestures can do so much for others.” One of her “gestures” is keeping some of her friends at Aberdeen Village in chocolates “to boost their spirits.” Perhaps most important, Jody is a strong believer in charitable giving. She supports a variety of organizations whenever and wherever she sees a need. “Giving provides me with a lot of joy,” she says. Jody directs a good portion of her giving to the Good Samaritan Program at Aberdeen Village. She and her husband, Courtney, moved to Aberdeen from Branson, Missouri, in July of 2012. But within a few months, Courtney’s health began to deteriorate, and he died in August 2013. The couple had been married for 31 years. Changing Her Perspective Jody’s first husband died when she was only 36. Suddenly a single mother with three young children, Jody struggled to support her family and work full-time. She still remembers the evening she was doing the dinner dishes, feeling discouraged, and watching the water drain from the sink.
Jody Furman “got serious” about giving many years ago. “I told myself that either God means what He says, or I was going down the drain just like that water in the sink,” she recalls. That’s when Jody says she “got serious about tithing”—giving 10 percent of what she earned back to God. When Jody and Courtney were married in 1982, they both worked at College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, Missouri. She ser ved in the dean of students’ office, and Courtney was a faculty member, as well as a church pastor. Together they supported ministr y organizations both large and small, plus individual missionaries ser ving around the world. Jody also had a student “scout” in her office who could identify other Continued on Page 2 >