Permanent Funds

Giving that Reflects Our Values By Janet and Dan

There is something very reassuring about creating a Permanent Fund through the Christian Church Foundation. By establishing our fund, we ensure that the causes that are most important to us—our congregation, our alma maters, our wider church—will continue to receive the blessing of our financial support in perpetuity. But our fund means so much more than that. It reflects our values, especially our commitment to Christian stewardship. It allows us to model that commitment in a tangible way. It speaks to our faith, a faith that calls us to live for others and to give generously. It provides a way for us to lay down our lives for others.

We believe that “the measure you give will be the measure you get.” Giving offers a deep and abiding grace for the giver. Giving away God’s gifts allows room for receiving other, and often different, gifts from God. Giving allows for living larger—larger than this life, to be sure. We have experienced the truth of Jesus’ promise regarding the “measure you get.” Sometimes that promise comes as a sense of fulfillment, sometimes as being more careful with the resources we retain, sometimes as a knowledge that we are leaving a legacy of love, and always as the blessing that we are building up treasure in heaven.

We haven’t been surprised that having a permanent fund with the Christian Church Foundation has resulted in deepened faith and more devoted stewardship. We haven’t been surprised that having a permanent fund with the Foundation has resulted in a willingness to share our passion for stewardship with others and a way to invite others to “go and do likewise”. We have been surprised that having a permanent fund with the Foundation has resulted in a shared mission and a stronger marriage. As we contribute to our permanent fund, we are investing in our relationship and solidifying that which binds us to one another: faith, hope and love.

In Memory of Adam D. Anderson

The death of a young person is always a tragic, and the unexpected death of Adam D. Anderson in January 2004 was no exception. A 2003 graduate of Central Missouri State University, Warrensburg, MO, he died after suffering a severe asthma attack.

Yet this young man’s legacy lives on as his parents, Alice and David Anderson, created a permanent fund at the Christian Church Foundation in his honor.

The Adam D. Anderson “Run the Race” Scholarship was created in the summer of 2004 and provides scholarship funds for two congregations, one in Kansas City, MO, and the other in Houston, TX. The Andersons want the fund to inspire other youngsters to pursue their dreams.

The Andersons had many options in creating the scholarship, but recognized the Christian Church Foundation would provide the best avenue to handle the gifts and distributions that would create a lasting legacy for their son. The first distribution from the fund arrived on what would have been Adam’s 25th birthday.

Earle and Rosella Barclay

Earle and Rosella Barclay were two humble, yet faithful servants of the Christian Church who served churches in many ways. After Mrs. Barclay died in 2006 at Ramsey Home in Des Moines, IA, assets were given to the Christian Church Foundation to establish a permanent fund. Their daughter, Cheryl, wrote these words about her parents:

“Rosella got her love of the church from her mother Alice Furness. She was active in the Christian Church in Nora Springs, IA. As a part of her church activities she came to Des Moines for a state church convention and saw Drake University. She said if she had a child he or she would attend Drake, become a missionary and go to Africa and then she would go along and cook.”

“After being married 17 years Rosella came along, grew up in the church and did graduate from Drake. She met Earle Barclay while in Drake and they were married. Earle felt he had a calling to the ministry so even though Rosella didn’t go to Africa she became a ‘missionary’ in the Lord’s work. Upon Alice’s death Rosella inherited the Furness farm where she had grown up.”

Mrs. Barclay had asked about establishing a permanent fund with the Christian Church Foundation with the interest each year going to the charities she would designate. A permanent fund gift agreement was signed, and upon her death, a percentage of her estate established the Earle and Rosella Barclay Permanent Fund with the Foundation.

Each year, Highland Park Christian Church in Des Moines, Drake University, Lexington Theological Seminary, Disciples of Christ Historical Society, and the Christian Church in the Upper Midwest receive a check from this fund. This will continue their commitment to the church for years to come—a commitment from servants of the Lord.

The Barclays’ life and ministry show that it doesn’t take wealthy people to do such good things. It only takes generous people.

Hannah Younghusband

Hannah Younghusband was a woman of many abilities who graciously served the church she loved. The Illinois woman graduated from Eureka College, and continued to support the college as a donor and trustee. A Chartered Life Underwriter, later in life she married Les Younghusband—a chemist who developed various cosmetics, including smearproof lipstick—and they enjoyed a long marriage, sharing a love of flying, horses and the outdoors. Mr. Younghusband died in 1969.

Mrs. Younghusband was devoted to the Christian Church of Arlington Heights, serving in many leadership roles and always bringing a warm welcome to guests and members—even via the telephone. In addition to serving on the Eureka College Board of Trustees, she served 18 years as a member of the Christian Church Foundation Board of Directors.

Among the Younghusband’s many assets were land in the Barrington, IL, area. She donated several lots of land, including parcels that she one day hoped could be the site for a new church and a 100-acre lake for a bird sanctuary. Her sprawling estate also was donated as a forest preserve so that it would remain, in her words, “forever country.”

While plans for a church in the Barrington area didn’t work out, a deal was reached in 2000 in which the parcel would be swapped with a different piece of land in Aurora, IL; that parcel was then given to Fox Valley Area Christian Church for a future building site.

When she died in 1996, various planned gifts came to fruition, and along with a bequest, totaled more than $2 million to charity. The Hannah H. Younghusband Fund at the Foundation continues her legacy of faithful giving, undergirding the ministries of the Foundation and the Christian Church of Arlington Heights.