Fall 2009 - Presbyterian Homes & Services

Mission
Benevolence
A Habit of Giving Provides
for the Care of Others
Eleanor Ingman
Eleanor Ingman’s home reveals
what’s important to her.
Artwork from travels with her late
husband, Boyd, displays her fascination
with the world. Her lake view balcony,
filled with flowers, vegetable plants, and
bird feeders, sustains her love of nature.
Eleanor’s philanthropic values, though
not as tangible, also are visible in how she
chooses to live and give.
When she was growing up in North
Dakota, during the Great Depression, her
father sometimes didn’t get paid. “But
every Sunday morning,” she remembers,
“all 6 of his kids would receive a nickel to
give to the church.” The practices of her
childhood have remained throughout her
life. “Boyd and I always gave 10% of
our income.”
Eleanor worked as a registered nurse at
Methodist and North Memorial Hospitals.
Boyd was an accountant with Cargill.
“Neither of us was at the top of the heap,”
she admits, “we were solidly middle-class.”
They lived in Crystal, Minnesota where
they raised two daughters. They retired in
the mid 1970’s, and eventually moved into
The Court at Presbyterian Homes on Lake
Minnetonka in 1992. “It feels like home,”
she said. She’s confident that PHS is able
to provide whatever she might need for
support as she ages.
Eleanor credits Boyd, who passed
away in 2004, for becoming a donor to
Presbyterian Homes Foundation (PHF).
“He felt it was just the right thing to do,”
she said. Eleanor has continued what
her husband began. Boyd’s stay at Lake
Minnetonka’s care center, in the last
weeks of his life, convinced Eleanor that
everyone deserves to receive quality care
and respect, regardless of their income. “I
have all the comforts I could ever ask for,”
she said, but she is concerned for other
residents who may not have the funds
to sustain the cost of housing and care.
Eleanor designates her gifts to Mission
Benevolence, a special fund that provides
financial assistance to PHS residents who
have outlived their financial resources. The
generosity of donors like Eleanor will help
assure that the nearly 5% of PHS residents
supported by Mission Benevolence will
not have to leave the community they
call home, or seek another place to
receive care.
Eleanor points to her own life to
demonstrate that philanthropy isn’t
a venue only of the wealthy. “It’s not
important how much you give, but that
you give what you can,” she advises.
“If I can help a few people, just a little bit,
maybe someone can remain here who
otherwise couldn’t.”
To learn more about how to designate a
gift for Mission Benevolence, contact the
Presbyterian Homes Foundation.
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