Charitable Gift Annuity

Long-time First Church member Lois Rezeau has settled into her
new home – in sunny, mild Mountain View, California where she lives only a mile from her daughter. She misses her church family and her home of 59 years, but not our long, rough winters. Though she didn’t take her snow boots, she remains giraffe-clad daily. She finds her fondness for giraffes is a
great ice breaker in the retirement community
where she now lives.

When Lois did some estate planning several years ago, she explained to her family that she wanted to leave a gift for the church from her estate. She soon took ad vantage of a great opportunity that offered a Win/Win: a charitable gift annuity. She learned about gift annuities at a UMW meeting – a plan that pays the donor a fixed, annual amount for life, and after death, the remainder is a gift to the church. And the gift annuity pays a higher rate than the CD she used to fund it!

Fast forward to 2008 – Lois sold her home before moving, and she decided to invest in First Church once again by establishing a second gift annuity. Talk about a Win/Win! At age 88, this gift annuity will pay 10.3% annually. It literally pays to get older with gift annuities. In addition, Lois will receive a charitable tax deduction, and a percentage of the annual payments are also tax-free.

Best of all, the remainder will go to the church. “The church is the heart of my life,” Lois says. “We need to live our faith day by day, and we need to renew it, day by day.” Her legacy to First United Methodist Church, funded by charitable gift annuities, is one way she remembers the church that she loves and the faith that surrounds her daily. Other news from Lois: She enjoys her new church – a large one. The service she attends has many families. She finds it quite convenient
to see the words to liturgy and hymns on one of six monitors placed around the sanctuary. And, her apartment is roomy – she could have brought a few more giraffes!