At the 2010 JCCF Annual Meeting in June our Legacy Society was announced. At the June Meeting Linda Erler came forward to champion this new group and be the model for how to create a lasting legacy through estate planning. Our Board President, Brad Bender is also leading the way of the Legacy Society and is one of our charter members. John Hall and Dan and Kay Baugh have also joined the Legacy Society. Trees will be planted this fall to honor their decision and announcement of Legacy Members.

The Foundation is grateful for the leadership, generosity and commitment to our community's future good of our champions in establishing a legacy of giving back to Jennings County as charter members of the Legacy Society. We hope their example will encourage others to come forward and join the Legacy Society and let us know if the Foundation has been included in their will or if they have taken steps to give to the Foundation when completing their estate planning. We believe that there are other individuals that have made the Community Foundation a beneficiary in their estate planning but have not informed us. Please let us know so that you may be included as a charter member of our new Legacy Society!

As a lasting remembrance and to acknowledge their gift to the Foundation all Legacy Society members will have a tree planted in their honor at the Muscatatuck County Park, the North Vernon City Park or another mutually agreeable site suggested by the donor. A plaque will be included at the site to acknowledge the gift.

If you have included the Community Foundation in your estate plans and would like to be included in the Foundation's Legacy Society, please contact us. To be eligible for recognition as a charter member, acknowledgement of leaving the Foundation in your will or estate plans needs to be made by the end of the 2011 calendar year. We look forward to hearing from you. "The greatest thing this generation can do is to lay stepping stones for the next generation."

Charles F. Kettering