Fifth in a series from the WC Foundation Legacy Committee
By Bill Gayle
We have ALL been blessed to have been at WCL since March of 2020. CEO Sean Huyett and our incredible staff members have provided superb total care, continued security, vaccination and extenuated health care through crazy hours of work. We must give joyful recognition to all who have been our heroes and heroines as we appear to be emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Yet, there is one other aspect of security we need to recognize; the WCL Foundation provides the security that no one will be asked to leave our campus for unanticipated financial reasons.
Each one of us who lives here truly needs to recognize that this is as important as what our staff members have provided; but, the emphasis here is that it is not the staff, it is US, as Pogo would say, who are responsible. It is indeed WE who need to support the Foundation financially to make sure that there continues to be sufficient funds to help those who may need it.
A few years after Westminster Canterbury opened, our family moved to Lynchburg, leaving my mother in Richmond where I was going to “be forever” having been there 17 years. About two years later, she was finally convinced to leave her friends and apartment, and move to Westminster Canterbury where she quickly adjusted, made new friends and subsequently lived for 24 years. She moved, as needed, from independent living to very loving nursing care.
She always worried about not having the money to pay for her care. She was reassured that WC was never going to cancel her contract and that one of the most important aspects of moving here was that if she needed it, there was guaranteed SECURITY from the Foundation Fellowship Fund for financial assistance. Thankfully she did not need it. She could count on those generous Residents living here, their families, and gifts from Foundation members, and members of the Board of Visitors (as the original governing body was called) to continually make donations to guarantee that no one was, as she termed it, “going to be put out.”
Many opportunities exist through the Foundation for each of us to consider supporting.
Judy and I make donations to Fellowship and also like to support the Employee Education Fund, the Chaplain’s Discretionary Fund and the General Endowment Fund with our gifts. There are many who have set up special funds which can be supported, such as scholarship assistance for healthcare workers to advance their education. There has been talk of establishing other areas for special venues and activities.
Your dream of what you would like this place to be and how it can be improved can happen with your thoughtful input and your financial support. Importantly, consider that your family and relatives may desire at some time to honor you through their own donations to the WCL Foundation. Your consideration of leaving a legacy gift through your will or estate would, of course, be a wonderful way to continue supporting all who now and subsequently will live in the security of WCL.
