Beacon of Hope begins endowment on behalf of Jane Bennington
The Beacon of Hope, which began shortly after Hurricane Charley hit in 2004, has recently voted unanimously to begin an endownment in the name of late board president Jane Bennington. By the time the COVID pandemic hit in 2020, the Beacon had just lost Bennington.
According to current Beacon board president Caryle Regan, Bennington’s family gave donations made at the funeral, totaling $5,800 to the Beacon of Hope. Regan said she put aside the monies given by the Bennington family.
“When COVID hit, if we’d needed that money, that would have been another story,” Regan said.
Regan said the Beacon was able to get government money for COVID quickly, coupled with fantastic support from the community, which got the organization through the pandemic, since the Attic Thrift Store had to be closed temporarily. That closure, said Regan, resulted in an approximate $80,000 loss. Now, the board has voted to start the endowment, aptly named, Jane’s Gift.
“We are delighted to use Jane’s Gift Fund. It’s Jane’s gift to the island. It is a true endowment. We don’t get to use the money, but we get to use the interest made on the money. We’ve been discussing it for a year -endowment versus financial planning. We feel it’s a gift to the community for the future — right now at $5,800, it’s not a whole lot of interest, but maybe 10 or 15 years down the line it will be a significant number,” Regan said.
According to internet sources, a financial endowment is a legal structure for managing, and in many cases indefinitely perpetuating, a pool of financial, real estate or other investments for a specific purpose according to the will of its founders and donors.
The Beacon of Hope is at 5090 Doug Taylor Circle, St. James City. For additional information, call 239-283-5123.