By Julie Stauffer
May, along with Huntington Disease Awareness Month, is Leave a Legacy Month in Canada. LEAVE A LEGACY™ is a national public awareness program designed to encourage people to leave a gift through their will or any other gift planning instrument to a charity or non-profit organization of their choice. The LEAVE A LEGACY™ program goal is to raise awareness of the importance of thoughtful, well-planned, tax-preferred gifts, their benefit to the donor and their impact on the quality of life for everyone in our communities.
Bob Stevens was a lifelong contributor to HSC: a driving force behind the B.C. Chapter, a long-time member of our national board of directors and a very generous donor. It made sense for Bob to continue supporting the Society that meant so much to him, even after his death.
“We have seen the devastation that this disease causes in the whole family,” says his wife, Norma Stevens. “His son passed away with it. My daughter is in a care home with it. We have other kids that can get it.”
And, of course, Bob built close ties with many families across Canada facing the same challenges. That is why he chose to designate HSC as the beneficiary of his life insurance policy. “I think he gave to the Society in hopes that it would help to find a cure for our children and all the HD sufferers,” says Norma.
“We are incredibly honoured that Bob chose to remember the Society in this way,” says HSC’s Development Manager Jim Martin. “Gifts like these give us vital funds to support families and invest in research, but they mean more than that. They are an important vote of confidence for the future of the Huntington cause.”
When you are thinking about wills and estates, family naturally comes first, says Norma. Once they are looked after, however, there are many ways to benefit the Huntington’s community through gifts of life insurance, charitable remainder trusts and gifts of retirement funds.
For more information, contact the Huntington Society of Canada at 1-800-998-7398 ext 125 or via email at jhoffman@huntingtonsociety.ca