Donor Stories

Taylor Family Fund

Parsons, and the workers in our company from the Parsons area, had been good to our family and we were looking for a way to give something back. Since we had an opportunity to give back to the community, we felt establishing a fund at the community foundation would benefit the most people over time. The benefits that we have seen since starting the fund have been numerous and will be long lasting. (Charlene Taylor)

Hazel Wall Scholarship Fund for Elementary Education Major

Our Aunt Hazel Wall was a longtime teacher at Washington Elementary School in Parsons. She died in 2001, a few months after her 90^th birthday. We chose her church and the community foundation to be the recipients of memorial donations. Later I discussed with other nieces and nephews the possibility of each of us making additional contributions to bring her memorial fund with the Parsons Area Community Foundation to the $10,000 amount necessary to be a permanently endowed fund. We decided to use income from the fund as a scholarship for a student attending Labette Community College who was planning to become a teacher. We are so pleased to have Hazel remembered for years to come through this scholarship. (Gary Wall)

Pearl Brennecke Fund

Pearl had discussed with me her desire to leave her estate to a fund to help the needy in Parsons. I suggested the community foundation as a vehicle to accomplish her wish. Even though she didn’t specify in her will how the income of this fund was to be used, we knew her intention was to assist the disadvantaged, and the board of the foundation has always respected this desire with grants through the years to such organizations as the Labette Assistance Center and The Rock Youth Program. Pearl’s modest estate will live on and on and help people for many, many years.  (Gary Wall)

Hughes Family Fund

            In 1994 the wheels were set in motion to establish the Parsons Area Community Foundation for the purpose of providing improvements and enrichments to the community beyond what tax dollars supplied. It would be funded through contributions of those wanting to give back to the community. Prior to the establishment of the Foundation, a long time resident of Parsons died leaving a sizable estate. She would have been thrilled to have left the money for the betterment of Parsons if there had been such a vehicle as a city foundation in existence. As it was, the money was left to a distant cousin who was independently wealthy and over 80 years old. This was the catalyst for creating the Parsons Community Foundation.

            Mary and I have a donor-advised fund at the Foundation. We are able to direct income from the investments of this fund to support the projects we value for the community. We can do this for our lifetimes and, if we choose, our children and grandchildren may continue with their direction. Since this fund is endowed, the principal always remains, and the income from the fund may be used to benefit generations to come.

            What a perfect way to support our local community. And all gifts are tax deductible!  (Pete Hughes)

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