12 Apr Slice, Slice, Baby
It’s been several years ago now that my brother-in-law, Mike, retired from the Army. My sister planned this big party and lots of his friends and family drove to their base in Kansas to celebrate this major accomplishment. It was one of those long-weekend events to make the drive worth it, so we planned some additional activities outside of the night of the main event—one was a Hotel Happy Hour.
Since Mike’s from Indiana but now lives in Kansas, we wanted to bring him some things that reminded him of home—things that he loved, really missed, and that you just can’t get anywhere else. So, on the first night we all arrived, my husband and I had made a plan with the chef at the hotel to bake some Pizza King pizzas for the Hotel Happy Hour we had for the early arrivers. Since we drove our SUV, we were able to ask Pizza King South in Marion (the best one locally, in my opinion) if they would par-bake a dozen pizzas for us. They obliged, we stashed them in a few coolers in the back of our car and we headed West.
I was super excited because Mike can eat! And he loves some Pizza King pizza! Of course, we kept it a surprise since there were many former Hoosiers there that we knew would get a kick out of this fun fare, and I’ll admit that I was a bit giddy with excitement to see the looks on their faces.
So, we made the delivery to the chef upon arrival and scheduled the dozen pizzas to be served at 6:00 on the dot. And low and behold, the servers come out at 6:00 with pizzas high in the air just before they placed them on the buffet. And I must tell you it was shock, aww, and then utter disbelief. Why? I’m so glad you asked.
Being a chef, this guy certainly knew how to bake a pizza—no problem. Not being a Hoosier, this chef had no idea that you don’t cut Pizza King pizza into triangles like most pizzas! Pizza King pizza is always, and I mean ALWAYS, cut into teeny-tiny squares! Never triangles!
It was clearly our fault. We hadn’t even thought to tell him about the ever-important square rule. And he’d never cut round pizzas any other way. You know what you know, right? Of course, not only did Mike love the gesture but we now have a story that we’ll never forget. It wasn’t just Pizza King pizza making an appearance in Kansas one summer night as we thought it might be. It is now a story that no one at the party will ever forget. It was a great night. It is a great memory.
This popped into my mind recently when we discovered that one of our co-workers is a monster. It’s a tad bit disconcerting to discover this after working with said person for nearly 20 years; but, alas, it’s true. We learned this when one of our awesome Board Members, Eric, brought us Ghirardelli chocolate brownies. Now, Eric can bake. I mean this guy has got it going on when it comes to desserts. In fact, he bakes one of the best cookies I’ve ever had in my entire life—beating all Girl Scout cookies combined—yes, even Thin Mints!
So, we’re always excited when Eric drops treats off at the Foundation. Until this happened.
When our sweet Hannah walked into the workroom to grab a treat, she immediately messaged our team and said, “OMG, you’re a monster.” To which, everyone agreed, except the monster…she just giggled. Clearly, she just wanted her favorite part—the middle slice.
And that friends, brings me to the main point of my blog today! I’d like to introduce you to The Pie Society! The Pie Society is a community-wide giving society made up of generous donors like you. These donors have taken an extra step and have promised to leave a portion of their accumulated wealth – or a piece of their pie – to charity. When you do this, the amount of your gift and the charities you choose are up to you. Support your own fund, the Give To Grant Fund, or any one of our 400+ funds we hold at the Community Foundation.
The Pie Society is for you!
Of course, everyone’s financial pie looks different, some slices are bigger, some smaller, some have more slices, some less.
The point here is all about Planned Giving. By contributing a piece of your pie to Grant County through the Community Foundation, you’re investing in a bright future for the next generation. For example, you love your community and the nonprofits that help make Grant County great, right? So, you might want to consider how you could leave a small slice of your financial pie to provide sustainability for your favorite charitable cause.
In essence, Planned Giving is just like regular giving, with long-term, legacy-building power. After all, you can’t even think about baking an apple pie unless someone once planted the apple seeds. You have the power to plant some seeds now by designating a charitable cause or organization as a beneficiary of your life insurance policy or retirement plan or by placing them in your will or estate plan.
Now, it’s true that planting those seeds today by making your long-term charitable plan won’t benefit the nonprofit today—that’s ok. Like an apple tree, it takes time to grow and mature. So, plant seeds today for a planned gift tomorrow. And feel free to slice it up any way you like!
That’s right, just like Sherri, I mean the teammate who would dare to cut a slice of brownie out of the middle of the dish, you can choose to cut your pie slices in any manner, size, or shape you choose. Certainly, your spouse should get a huge piece—makes sense! Maybe you have children. Of course, you’d want to leave them an ample slice or two. But your professional advisor will tell you that there are assets that are better to leave to a nonprofit. Those assets might be much smaller pieces of the pie—no problem! There’s plenty of pie to go around. In fact, if everyone in Grant County left just 5% of their pie to an endowment at the Community Foundation, that would increase donations by $2.3B in the next 10 years. Yes, that’s B as in BILLION! That would equate to an additional $1.5M in additional grantmaking annually—forever! This kind of generosity could ensure that parks, sports fields, and greenways are maintained, that kids won’t go to bed hungry at night, and that our overall health and safety is improved. Planning ahead has huge benefits!
So, join The Pie Society! Your generous annual donations, along with a larger planned gift for later, is how you’ll begin to see Grant County’s quality of life improve. When you leave a slice, you leave a legacy!
Then you can rest assured that your charitable wishes will last forever. Click here to see the many options you have to leave a charitable legacy in Grant County with a slice of your financial pie. And be sure to tell us that you’re left a legacy gift, so we can make you an official member of The Pie Society.
The beautiful thing about Charitable Planned Giving is that you can take care of your family’s needs first and still cut a slice of pie in any size for your favorite charity. Generosity, no matter the size or the shape of the slice, still tastes the same as the rest of the pie! Trust me, if this logic works for Pizza King triangles, it works for all pies! Join The Pie Society today!
P.S. Of course, I couldn’t possibly write a pie-themed blog without including some of my favorite pie graphs! Enjoy!
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