In 2008, House Resolution 1499 to establish National Estate Planning Awareness Week was adopted to help the public understand that careful estate planning can greatly assist Americans in preserving assets built over a lifetime for the benefit of family, heirs, or charities.
Many people like to include planned gifts to charity as part of their overall financial and estate planning. Planned gifts can help individuals minimize their tax burden, provide for their family, honor loved ones, preserve their family name, and reinforce their personal values. Furthermore, planned gifts provide significant and lasting benefits to the community.
The Community Foundation of the Holland/Zeeland Area works with hundreds of families to help them with the charitable portion of their estate planning. In honor of these donors and to celebrate National Estate Planning Awareness Week, we are sharing some of the stories of our Bridge Builder Legacy Society members who have recently passed and the types of funds they established with their gift to CFHZ. More stories and a list and description of our Bridge Builder Society can be found in our 2020 Annual Report.
Drs. Gordon and Margaret Van Wylen
Gordon and Margaret Van Wylen Fund
Community’s Endowment Unrestricted Fund
As President and First Lady of Hope College for 15 years, Drs. Van Wylen were deeply committed to Holland. In 1997, they established the Gordon and Margaret Van Wylen Fund, an unrestricted fund of the Community’s Endowment. In their own words, they established the fund and arranged for a planned gift to the fund “to express our appreciation for the privilege of living in this fine community, and to affirm our hope and aspirations for this community for the future.”
Ione Trap
Ione Trap Vocal Music Fund
Donor Designated Fund
Ione’s passion was vocal music. When she and her husband, Paul, moved to Holland in 1988 she found many opportunities to express her love for singing. Ione sang G.F. Handel’s Messiah for 28 consecutive years with the Zeeland Civic Chorus. She also sang with the Hope College Chorus for 20 years including 18 years participating in the Hope College Vespers. Ione’s love for singing will continue through the Ione Trap Vocal Music Fund, a designated fund endowed by a gift from her retirement plan and memorials from friends and family initially supporting The Zeeland Civic Chorus and Evergreen Commons Chorale.
Angie Van Hoven
Angie Van Hoven Nursing Scholarship
Scholarship Fund
Angie served in the Army Reserve Nurse Corps in WWII, was the Director of the Visiting Nurse Association in Holland and owned and operated the Woodhaven Skilled Nursing Home in Zeeland, now known as Heritage Nursing Home. Angie’s love of nursing moved her to fund the Angie Van Hoven Nursing Scholarship in 2012 for students living in Holland and Zeeland who wish to become registered nurses. She generously named the endowed scholarship fund as a beneficiary of her estate.
For questions about including a planned gift to charity in an estate plan, or other donor services, please contact Colleen Hill, Vice President of Development & Donor Services, at chill@cfhz.org or by calling 616–994–8853.
