Fall 2009 - Presbyterian Homes & Services
Fall 2009 - Presbyterian Homes & Services
Fall 2009 - Presbyterian Homes & Services
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Mission<br />
Benevolence<br />
A Habit of Giving Provides<br />
for the Care of Others<br />
<br />
Eleanor Ingman<br />
Eleanor Ingman’s home reveals<br />
what’s important to her.<br />
Artwork from travels with her late<br />
husband, Boyd, displays her fascination<br />
with the world. Her lake view balcony,<br />
filled with flowers, vegetable plants, and<br />
bird feeders, sustains her love of nature.<br />
Eleanor’s philanthropic values, though<br />
not as tangible, also are visible in how she<br />
chooses to live and give.<br />
When she was growing up in North<br />
Dakota, during the Great Depression, her<br />
father sometimes didn’t get paid. “But<br />
every Sunday morning,” she remembers,<br />
“all 6 of his kids would receive a nickel to<br />
give to the church.” The practices of her<br />
childhood have remained throughout her<br />
life. “Boyd and I always gave 10% of<br />
our income.”<br />
Eleanor worked as a registered nurse at<br />
Methodist and North Memorial Hospitals.<br />
Boyd was an accountant with Cargill.<br />
“Neither of us was at the top of the heap,”<br />
she admits, “we were solidly middle-class.”<br />
They lived in Crystal, Minnesota where<br />
they raised two daughters. They retired in<br />
the mid 1970’s, and eventually moved into<br />
The Court at <strong>Presbyterian</strong> <strong>Homes</strong> on Lake<br />
Minnetonka in 1992. “It feels like home,”<br />
she said. She’s confident that PHS is able<br />
to provide whatever she might need for<br />
support as she ages.<br />
Eleanor credits Boyd, who passed<br />
away in 2004, for becoming a donor to<br />
<strong>Presbyterian</strong> <strong>Homes</strong> Foundation (PHF).<br />
“He felt it was just the right thing to do,”<br />
she said. Eleanor has continued what<br />
her husband began. Boyd’s stay at Lake<br />
Minnetonka’s care center, in the last<br />
weeks of his life, convinced Eleanor that<br />
everyone deserves to receive quality care<br />
and respect, regardless of their income. “I<br />
have all the comforts I could ever ask for,”<br />
she said, but she is concerned for other<br />
residents who may not have the funds<br />
to sustain the cost of housing and care.<br />
Eleanor designates her gifts to Mission<br />
Benevolence, a special fund that provides<br />
financial assistance to PHS residents who<br />
have outlived their financial resources. The<br />
generosity of donors like Eleanor will help<br />
assure that the nearly 5% of PHS residents<br />
supported by Mission Benevolence will<br />
not have to leave the community they<br />
call home, or seek another place to<br />
receive care.<br />
Eleanor points to her own life to<br />
demonstrate that philanthropy isn’t<br />
a venue only of the wealthy. “It’s not<br />
important how much you give, but that<br />
you give what you can,” she advises.<br />
“If I can help a few people, just a little bit,<br />
maybe someone can remain here who<br />
otherwise couldn’t.”<br />
To learn more about how to designate a<br />
gift for Mission Benevolence, contact the<br />
<strong>Presbyterian</strong> <strong>Homes</strong> Foundation.<br />
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