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Meet Our Donors

We thank all our planned-gift donors for their generous support. Here are some of their stories.

Bob Lantz

Bob Lantz is a shining example of what the Sarah’s stars program is all about: someone dedicated to the health of the community that Culberson Hospital serves.

Recently, Lantz and his wife of 60 years, Patsy, graciously made an annual pledge to the CMH Foundation, which helps keep prompt, quality health care right here in Schuyler County.

“I think Culberson is very important to the people of this community because of the service it provides,” says Lantz. “Otherwise, instead of people getting medical service here in Rushville, locally, they’d have to go 30 to 50 miles away. For some it’s not a problem, but we have a fair amount of elderly citizens in our population. And I’m talking about myself now," Bob adds, laughing.

Sarah’s star was created as a program for those who would like to give back to the Culberson Hospital, allowing them to pledge annually, semi-annually or however they prefer over a period of years. “That money can go to help provide equipment to help nurses and doctors,” says Lantz.

Lantz has a history of dedication to the people of Schuyler County throughout his service to CMH. In addition to a full time career with the USDA’s Soil Conservation Service for over 25 years, Lantz served on the CMH Board for 10 years, eventually becoming Board Chairman. He was then asked to serve on the CMH Foundation Board in 1998 and wholeheartedly accepted.

“Some people retire and you may not see them again,” adds Foundation Director Tim Ward. “But Bob retired and now does community work, is on the Foundation Board, and chairs the Planned Giving Committee. In a way, he’s as busy as he was years ago. He’s a volunteer willing to serve and give back to the hospital.”

You can even catch Lantz helping as one of the Culbertson’s Friends, a group of volunteers offering on-on-one escort assistance for all who come to CMH. “I enjoy being there at the hospital helping out and meeting the people,” says Lantz warmly. “They do appreciate the service.”

Lantz extends the opportunity to join Sarah’s Stars alongside him and his wife, Patsy. Especially to those who care deeply about the health care that CMH offers the families of our service area.
“Schuyler County is my home county,” says Lantz. “The CMH Foundation is a way to give money to support our hospital.”  

Justin

I bought a lot of life insurance when our family was young. Wanted to be sure that Bev and our children would be taken care of should anything unexpected happen to me.

Well, I’m still around, thank goodness. Our children are grown and settled, and Bev and I did little better financially than we ever thought would be possible when we were starting out. Truth is, our family no longer needed all the life insurance coverage I was carrying for them.

That excess insurance was really an asset that was no longer productive for us. We talked about it with our accountant, and she said that we could donate some policies to our favorite charity – CMH Foundation. We would receive an income tax deduction approximately equal to the cash surrender value of the policies, which would come in very handy at tax time.

CMH Foundation could either cash in the policies and use the funds for current projects, or hold them for the death benefits they will pay when we die.

It was a win-win result: we were able to help CMH Foundation out significantly, but we did it by using assets we had almost forgotten about, and in a way that didn’t affect our cash-flow or our family’s security.

Tom & Wilma

We wanted to make a gift to CMH Foundation in addition to our annual support – a commitment that would make a lasting impact on the organization our whole family loves.

But how to do it? We can’t afford to give away large sums while we’re alive, and our children are counting on receiving most of our estate. Our financial advisor came up with the creative solution. He had been looking over the annual statements from Tom’s and my IRAs and retirement plans.

“There will be more than adequate distributions available from these plans after you retire to maintain your lifestyle and enjoy yourselves a little bit,” he told us. “In fact, I’ll probably be advising you to minimize your withdrawals and keep the accounts growing.

“But, did you know that any balance remaining in those plans when the second of you dies could be taxed twice if you leave the accounts to your children through your will? That’s right – the balances could be subject to both estate and income tax. Your children could wind up with a lot less than you’re expecting them to get.”

His plan? Designate CMH Foundation as the recipient of all or a portion of the remaining balance in our retirement plans. That transfer will be subject to neither estate nor income tax, resulting in a substantial gift to CMH Foundation. We were then able to allocate the other assets in our estate to our children, knowing that they can take them free of the double tax that applies to retirement accounts.

The result for us? We solved an estate-planning problem we didn’t even know we had, and found a way to provide long-term support for our favorite institution.

Kurt, with his favorite granddaughter, Emily

After my wife Karen died, I began to appreciate much more the organizations to which she had been so devoted. CMH Foundation was always her favorite, and I began to look for ways that my giving could keep her commitment alive.

I decided to make a bequest to CMH Foundation. Trouble was, I had just re-written my will, and I didn’t want to go the time and expense of having a new document drawn just to add a bequest to CMH Foundation.

My lawyer told me that I could set up the gift through a codicil to my existing will. She told me that a codicil is a simple document that makes specific changes to a will – like adding a charitable bequest – but leaves everything else alone. It’s a great solution for making minor adjustments to an estate plan you’re otherwise happy with.

She had the codicil ready for me to sign in two days – and now I can rest easy knowing that the organization that meant so much to Karen will be hearing from her once again.